Backburner

​Backburner
As is my custom I was washing up this morning.  I let the dishes mature over night after giving things a rinse.  In the morning I also clean the benches and the stove (the top of it).
This morning I was considering the term backburner.  Originally it was used to describe the rest time of an item being cooked.  It would be put to the back and kept warm while other things were prepared.  Eventually it would be time to cook it again and bring it to the place it was meant to be, so it was ready to consume.
These days it has come to mean something else but taken from that process.  Today we consider something is on the backburner when it is not being considered at this time.  It does not mean it will never be, but the time has to be right and then it will come to the fore again.
I do think care needs to be taken with such things. Some lose patience and thrust themselves forward.  But if the original term means anything then the time is not right.  I know I am not fond of something that has been cooked too early and for too long and is burnt.
I saw it when I was working in a government department.  Levels of authority were determined by a number.  The higher the number the further up the ladder someone was.  It was known that if someone went to Canberra, they could ascend the ladder rapidly.  The trouble was someone who had obtained a high level in Canberra was not necessarily wanted elsewhere.  They had gone up too quick and the level obtained did not necessarily equate to the experience that was necessary.
It happens all the time everywhere it seems.  Some are more interested in the title than they are the task.  There is no doubt it can work for a while, but what is important to someone becomes known and often that person is overlooked.  That can be a lonely existence.
Being on the backburner involves patience and wisdom. 
One thing I have learned big time is that although I may get off the back burner and have my moment in the sun, the sun sets.  In other words, no-one is indispensable.  We may like to think we are, but in 200 years I will not be here.  What I built may or may not have stood the test of time, but my body in its current form won’t have.
Whenever I have been on the back burner it has all been a matter of timing.  Patience grasshopper.