It was chilly at 18C. The line was long. Imagine more than 2,000 people waiting for their monthly food ration.

The village in Taita Taveta in Kenya was dry and arid. Except for the listless line, nothing else seemed to move. The trees were dark-brown, their leaves parched and barely hanged on.

I went to Anastacia. I saw her wide smile despite the palpable impatience around her. Her also-smiling baby in her arms.

I asked if she was ok with the long wait. The delay seemed forever. She nodded without a bit of annoyance.

I was floored by her optimism. She had a truck-load of it. Maybe more.

She said, “I don’t mind waiting. I am used to waiting. As long as my children have food when I go home, I can wait for my turn.”

I asked myself, “Is it because she had no other choice? The moment she leaves the line along with her pride – there goes the meals for a month. She waits – her children eat. It is a painful, no-turning-back choice.

There are millions around us who drop down their mighty pride – for the sake of family. Look at the women inside your own home…at the neighborhood. This is not an isolated case.

When was the last time you refused to wait and blew your top? Did it bring you any good? I guess when we take time to breathe and think, we won’t dare blast a wallop that would come back to us in a million pieces.

This is the line that Anastacia had to brave through. She may not even know the over-used saying patience is a virtue exists.

But she is good at living it.

We could learn a lesson or two from her.

-o0o-

“Defining moments are moments in our lives that draw out who we really are, and who we are capable of becoming, by the choices and decisions we make.” – Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD