photo: Laurence Klinger

THINGS THAT WAIT. 

Some things are born to wait.

Burglar alarms, fire extinguishers, insurance policies. Waiting, for them, is an honorable profession.

Unless something bad happens, they’ll just sit and wait for their expiration dates. Most of them will go through life without seeing any action.

These things display extraordinary patience, but humans prefer to label it as laziness.

Call it as you wish, inertia is precisely the most desirable quality in this category of objects. Nobody wants over-motivated fire sprinklers or burglar alarms going off because they are bored, or in need to feel productive.