BY SERRANO

“Think of all the things you have been waiting for, inevitably you will see that hope always

accompanies them.”

 
             Do you like waiting? For most people, the answer would be a resounding no. “I should
have just slept!” or “I would have finished another episode, what a waste.” We usually hate
waiting as it seemingly stands synonymous with not being able to do something we ought to do or would have loved to accomplish. The age-old saying ‘Time is gold’ resounds to the thought patterns of most of us. Truthfully enough, time must be crucial as you cannot restore it once lost. But have you ever thought of the possible benefits that accompany waiting? What if waiting is not merely wasting, but more of a sense of seeking rest and solitude?  
             The Spanish verb esperar astounds me the most. It means ‘to wait,’ and at the same time also means ‘to hope.’ Etymology and the general study of words are great disciplines. Through them, we can have a glimpse of how different cultures around the world think. I can prove this to you by looking into the analysis of philosopher Leonardo Mercado on the word maganda in the Filipino context. Maganda denotatively pertains to external beauty — what is pleasing aesthetically, yet why do we also use the said term to compliment good behavior? We usually hear magandang asal instead of mabuting asal, don’t we? Although he suggests that such can imply the preference of Filipinos toward the esthetic over the ethical, I believe the said similarity infers that the two words are highly akin.
             Esperar then can act in the same sense. When we wait, don’t we hope? “I am waiting for
the next train to arrive” means you are hoping that a next train would arrive. “I am waiting for
this pandemic to be over” means you are hoping that this crisis would end in the soonest possible time. Think of all the things you have been waiting for, inevitably you will see that hope always accompanies them. We, humans, wait in anticipation that something we want or expect would eventually happen — arguably a sensible definition of hope.
         “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things”; hope can easily be depicted as positive.
Adversely, and unfortunately, waiting has been usually linked as pessimistic in our society.
Imagine ranting to a Spanish speaker about how you hate waiting (esperando), and then he/she misunderstands it as you hating to hope. Can hope — the very reason we live and strive, be abhorred? Let us then try to take a further look and see if we could learn to might as well love waiting in the same way we regard hoping, as what Spanish speakers tend to practice.
         The Hallyu wave has been flooding the pop industry for quite a while now. I am pretty sure you are familiar with the term ‘comeback.’ Kpop fans around the globe eagerly await the
scheduled release of new songs or performances. Through it, Korean media producers easily

garner a lot of online interaction in just a few minutes. Do you think the fans would equally be
satisfied if the songs or performances were readily available? I guess not. The success of Kpop
comebacks testifies how desire that was built up over time can give greater satisfaction. Let’s
take a look at another scenario. Would your birthday be exceptional if you celebrate it every
day? How about for the holidays? Waiting gives rarity to life events, thus, making them all the
more significant. Without having to wait, pleasure would eventually be mundane or worse,
nonexistent. 
               Waiting as I mentioned, can also be a form of seeking rest and solitude. Think about
being always on the move for all of your daily routines. Wouldn’t that be exhausting? From the
simplest waiting in queues before entering the LRT to the events as crucial as waiting for the
year of graduation, all kinds of waiting are necessary pauses. They are given by life so that we
can have some time to reflect on our goals, our ideals, as well as our dreams. In a physical sense, it gives us some time to breathe, not having to be on the run all the time. Waiting requires time, and thankfully all good things also take time. 
              These are trying times; there may be instances when you find yourself hating the need to wait as you feel so unproductive that you are beating yourself up for it. Do not! What has been happening around the world is unprecedented, and no one could, should, and would blame you for wanting to keep a sense of peace. In this mental health month celebration, may we all learn to love ourselves more in the hopes of a better tomorrow, waiting eagerly that everything eventually comes back to what it used to be, or becomes even better. Esperar para mejores días. Every time you find yourself waiting, remember you’re also hoping, and both are great things for our personal growth and betterment.