I am not sure what Samuel Becket’s “Waiting For Godot” is all about. I am sure if I really wanted to learn the meaning of the play that there would be a myriad of sources to tell me. I don’t want that.

I think one of the joys, if not the only joy of reading art or witnessing it performed, is making your own evaluations and finding your own meaning.

So, what does this have to do with my Saturday Morning Rant? In fact, what does Godot have to do with you or me?

I guess it would be useful to know who Godot is and why the characters are waiting for him. It might indeed be useful to know this but quite unnecessary.

To me, the keyword in the tile of the play is WAITING.

Becket was living in Paris when the Nazis invaded France.  He would join the French Resistance, so maybe he was waiting for the Americans to come to France’s rescue? What I take away from the title is a question.

What am I waiting for?

It seems that I have always been waiting.

When I was in school, I was waiting for Thanksgiving and then Christmas vacation. No sooner was I back in school than I was waiting for Easter vacation and then summer vacation.

Those were simple waits but still significant enough to create a sense of longing and joyful expectation. It was a reachable goal.

As an adult? Well, I won’t bore you with all of that.

The fact is I am still waiting and longing and, despite the fact that I am nearly seventy years old, my expectations haven’t really changed at all. With the exception of the addition of one more wait. A wait that seems as far off as those Christmas vacations and summer vacations seemed over sixty years ago.

I am waiting for the end of COVID-19 and all the impact that it is having on our lives.

Sadly, there are so many who have been impacted with tragedy and loss that there is no amount of waiting and truly maybe nothing to wait for that will put this miserable experience out of our mind.

Still, we will rejoice when COVID-19 is defeated.

It is commonly believed that Godot was a representation of GOD. I am not sure as every explanation I have heard seems to offer a different opinion. But, I believe it is God.

While the act of waiting may seem arduous and excruciating depending on what it is you are expecting, it is also a manifestation of your hope in something good about to happen.

So, despite the daily recitation of positive tests and fatalities and just listening to the accounts of suffering detailed by health care workers, I have hope, and I truly believe the rest of us do too.

There will be a cure or a method of lessening the effects of the virus. There will one day be a vaccine (of course, we will have to convince the lunatic anti-vaxers to let us use it).

The world’s scientists and researchers are on the case, and they will develop a treatment. I have no doubt about that.

That is a good thing to wait for. It offers hope. Despite the fact that we do have to wait and, by waiting, endure more daily updates of the devastation continuing to wreak havoc on civilization, we will survive and one day thrive.

That is one of my waits. That is my hope.

But I have others.

I am waiting for the divisions of this country to be eradicated along with COVID-19.

I am waiting for Americans to stop fighting this civil war that has wasted so much time.

I am waiting for all of us to see all of us as worthy of respect despite our color, creed, and sexual orientation.

I am waiting for America to wake up and realize that our nation’s physical health is a National Security issue. We don’t need Russian hackers to destroy us if we are going to destroy ourselves.

I am waiting to go to the Bronx to see Sean and Jeannine and York and, of course, Rudy and Scout.

I am waiting for Bryan to come home for the summer.

I am waiting to go to Disney with our friends Karen and Connie.

I am waiting to go to our club for a Hoptical Illusion that they have on hand especially for me.

I am waiting to have a pint in an English pub and a second one in Sligo.

I am waiting to stress out when Aaron Judge strikes out, or Gary Sanchez gives up a pass ball. (It’s funny how precious even those moments can seem now.)

Ok, you have the idea.

Life has its waits, and that is a really, really good thing.

God bless.

Be well.

Stay safe.