I took a lesson on Patient along this shoreline at Sembawang Park the other day. With my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone, I waited patiently. The slightest movement I made, the ‘timer’ would reset and I would have to wait for another 5-10 minutes. What was I waiting for?

Could I have just walked to the shoreline, asked the little crabs to come out from their hidings to let me take some photos of them? I did try but I failed terribly.

Walking directly to the crabs would send them scurrying into the openings between rocks and within seconds, it seemed as if they just vanished into thin air.

Then I tried standing still to wait for them to appear. After a while, they started to explore the surroundings carefully and slowly from the openings. Upon seeing that, I made the mistake to squat down too quickly and they were gone.

I learned my lessons well from the mistakes I made. I squatted very still and aimed the camera phone at the openings where the crabs appeared before. Patiently I waited and it paid off. Within 5-10 minutes, the crabs started appearing from the openings again.

First there was only 1 daring crab which came out to explore, then 2, 3, 4 and it went on, coming out from the different openings between rocks. Before I knew it, I saw about 10 of them around me. With as little abrupt movement as possible this time, I aimed and focused my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone at one of the largest crabs.

And the result? The second picture above. There is still a limitation on the camera phone. Pardon me for the poor shot. However, through this incidence, I realized how much professional photographers must have gone through to capture all those spectacular moments; how many hours of waiting for that close to perfect shot?

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein

If they had not been enormously patient, could Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein turned out to be great scientists?

In one of Leonardo da Vinci‘s quotation, he mentioned, “Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.”

And for anyone who love gardening, what can you share about patient on gardening? I believe that patience and persistence are two key attributes to a lovely garden?

And the work of farmers who are still using traditional methods of farming. How many hours did they have to plough in the field, look after the seedlings before they can have a good harvest. Not to mention, they are under the mercy of Mother Nature.

And parents, what can children teach you about patience?