Is there Anything but Waiting?

What is the universe? Mankind has been asking this question since we first evolved. We have come up with nearly infinite explanations for all of existence, and for our own place within it.

For some, life is a stage. It is our chance to show off. We may merely be players in a grander show, but if we perform out part well, we might be awarded with fame, attention, or ever-lasting glory. Maybe, if you are good enough, people will always speak of how great a singer, actor, of playwright you were.

For others, life is not so much a performance as it is a test. Every day produces new opportunities to pass with flying colors, or miserably fail. Not all of us can handle this stress, though. Others take a more leisurely route. Life is a party! You didn’t choose to be here in the Universe. It is full of strife and pain, but also really cool stuff like pizza and video games. If you don’t have a choice, you might as well have fun until you die.

These are all viable views of existence in the Universe. But I say life is neither stage nor test nor party. I say the Universe is a giant waiting room.

Think about waiting rooms. They are a place you don’t want to be, but are required to go to. While we are there, the waiting room is full of things to distract us, to draw our attention away from the fact that we are just killing time until we get to see the Doctor.

And where is the Doctor, anyway? I’ve been waiting here forever, filled out all kinds of paperwork, read every old magazine, and still no one has called me into the back room. Is the Doctor even real, or were we all called here under false pretenses? Will the waiting ever end?

Yes, the waiting room is fine, as long as you don’t think about it too much. But no matter how many magazines you read, or cell phone games you play, you can never quite shake the suspicion that the waiting room pretty much just sucks. And that is all.

It is uncomfortable in the waiting room. And it is clearly not fair. Worst of all, you have to share this undesirable space with other people. Gross people. Stupid people.

Of course, even though you are in the same place, there is absolutely no way you are just another gross and stupid person. You are here for a reason. You have real problems. Problems far too important for you to be concerned with the other people waiting.

It is easy to get caught up in our own problems while we are waiting.

Then again, it is just as easy to put down the cell phone, get out of our own head, and try to make a connection with one of the other people waiting. A nod. A smile. A joke.

After all, we are all stuck waiting together. We might as well try to make some friends. Maybe together we could storm the back room and take some medical supplies. Or, even better, we could make the Doctor answer for his transgression. Demand that he tell us, why is there a waiting room? And why are we all stuck in it?