It seems that every commentator, every fan is compelled to mention the “long wait” the Sox have had to endure between World Series appearances. So inevitable have such mentions become that it feels as though the burden of waiting is exclusive to the South Siders. It’s not.
According to Rabbi Sholem Fishbane at the Chicago Rabbinical Council, the Jewish people have been patiently waiting 5,766 years for the Messiah.
Charles Dickens’ teary novel, “The Old Curiosity Shop,” first appeared as a weekly serial from April 1840 to February 1841. As the child, Little Nell, declined, tortured American readers would greet ships bearing the text and demand to know, “Does Nell die?” (In Chapter 71, she does.)
Clyde Roper, 68, zoologist emeritus at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, is author of some 150 scientific articles on cephalopod biology. In a career of some 40 years and counting, he has traveled the globe and explored beneath its oceans in hope of seeing a giant squid alive. He never has. Still he waits and hopes.
To bring some temporal perspective to the table, Tempo has put together other waits to consider. One of the most famous waits, Samuel Beckett’s play, “Waiting for Godot,” was, in a 2001 film version, just two hours long. You can wait longer to talk with a “service representative.”
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Waiting for the Rapture
(predicted by Paul in an epistle to the Thessalonians, thought to be written in 52 A.D.)
1,953 YEARS
Waiting for the Roman Empire to end
422 YEARS (27 BC – 395 AD)
Waiting for women to get the vote in the United States
144 YEARS (1776-1920)
Waiting for the whole, chronologically messed-up “Star War”s saga to be completed
28 YEARS
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Waiting for TV’s soap opera queen Susan Lucci to win an Emmy
21 YEARS (won in 1999 after 18 previous nominations)
Waiting for Northwestern to break losing streak in Division 1-A college football
34 GAMES (from from Sept. 22, 1979, to Sept. 18, 1982)