Work is a Blessing – Sand Man

“Patience is a virtue” – William Langland

I remember when I was in Singapore I lined up to order food at a hawker stall that had the sign “Best Satay Ever”. The server would tell his customers to come back after ten minutes. So while still waiting in line, one foreigner comes back to the stall to follow up on her order. The server tells her that it’s still only 5 minutes and their dishes takes time to prepare, he then told the customer” “You can’t rush art!”. That took me by surprise, but when I eventually got my order I was pretty impressed,
the food is good!

Two days later in Malaysia we took some time to check out the Central Market and saw some nice displays of bottle sand art,
beside it was a work table with different trays of sand, and a man intensely focused on a bottle.

We stood and watched him work, slowly pouring sand into the funnel to form patterns. It took roughly around 30 to 45 minutes to finish a small bottle with simple patterns.
I asked permission if we could keep watching him work and for me to take photos of him, to which he gave me a quick nod.

I’m amazed at the precision of his work, and I see in him a patience that I don’t think I’ll ever have. We bought a small bottle as a souvenir for our home. Before we left I asked if he could take a quick look at the camera, he gave me a brief glance, I take the shot, then he quickly goes back to his work.