Waiting

So I'm sitting across from a fairly old man - he's in his late 60s or early 70s, fairly overweight, wearing blue jeans and a red baseball-style cap, and one of those bad windbreaker jackets that can't possibly be warm but all people over the age of 50 seem to wear every day of their lives.

He is sitting on a couch, doing absolutely nothing but looking around and occasionally looking at his watch. He appears to be waiting for someone; my guess is that his wife is taking a class here and he is waiting for her to get done, even though the class is three hours long and won't be done for at least another 25 minutes.

Yet here the man sits. Why does he not have a newspaper, or a computer (ok I grant, I did say he's fairly old)? Why does he not go up to the library only fifty feet away and read a book or a magazine? What is it about this man that causes him to waste his time in the common room of a college campus meerly sitting and waiting?

It kinda makes me wonder if perhaps I'm the one wasting my time, that I'm missing out on something by typing a blog or playing a game on my computer - yet, at the same time, I can't help but feel that at least by doing this my mind is active and healthy. Sphere: Related Content