Patience Is a Process, Not a Virtue

You had to be really unlucky to be on the China National Highway 110 on August 14, 2010. One of the longest traffic jams on record ensued, ensnaring thousands of vehicles over more than 100 kilometers and lasting more than 10 days. The unluckiest drivers were stuck for five full days. As the days dragged out, vendors popped up along the highway to keep people fed and hydrated—often for a high fee.

Would sitting in traffic for five days make you impatient? I strongly suspect that even the calmest, most zen among us would answer with a resounding “yes!” Patience fails everyone at some point or another. It probably takes a lot less than a multiday traffic jam to send most of us into a spiral of impatience and defeat.

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): Scientific American