This was the finding by a Stanford University professor in the 1960s when he conducted what became known as the Marshmallow Experiment. A group of children were each given a marshmallow and asked to wait five minutes before eating it. If they waited they would have another marshmallow.

Some ate it immediately, some could only wait a few minutes and some managed to last the distance and were given the reward. The children were followed up over the years and it was later found that those who had the ability to wait were far more able to cope with the stresses and problems which they encountered in later life.

Judging by the amount of waiting done by the members of the Orange Oral History Group during their early lives one would expect that they have all succeeded spectacularly.

The world we find ourselves in now seems to move at a much faster pace. People have become used to having their wants satisfied immediately and the advance of technology has greatly assisted in this need.

This month the group met again after the Christmas break to discuss the subject of anticipation and how we handled the idea of waiting in our youth. Some of our group grew up during the Great Depression when money was very short and thousands were unemployed and walking country roads to find work.

“A lot of people were begging,” said Harold, “and we always had to wait for things”.

It was the same during WWII when “for the duration” was the phrase used to say that things were not available until after the war.

Then came the 1950s and the economy began to grow. Servicemen, returning home, married and started to build homes and, although there were still shortages, people could look forward to a more stable future.

They worked hard, often building houses with their own hands, and banks were not eager to lend money.

“I built my first home myself,” said Dick Page, “but when I was halfway through I was worried that I didn’t have enough money to finish it. When I approached the bank with the land and half the house as collateral, they weren’t interested.”

So we saved up to buy things. The Commonwealth Bank offered school children a free money box in the shape of the big bank in Sydney, and school banking was much encouraged.

“I saved up all my life,” Stuart Carney said. “For an engagement ring and wedding ring and then a block of land on which to build a house. Often people would build a garage to live in while they built the house.”

“We were all so patient,” said John in some amazement, “but we certainly enjoyed things when we finally got them”.

We wondered if that went back to our childhood training, but one thing was sure, John was right – we enjoyed it when we got it.

Richard Gilchrist remembered how he longed for a bicycle when he was nine years old.

“I was sick in bed and it was my birthday and when I opened my eyes, there it was at the foot of my bed,” he said.

Then the way of life changed as hire purchase became popular and we gradually acquired the things we were longing for. We were able to have a washing machine and a television set, although we were still cautious with our spending.

Having a TV meant we were exposed to advertising much more than we had been in the past, and our mouths watered at the sight of the abundance of goods on offer. The days of wanting instant gratification were coming.

Bill pointed out that as producing goods required less labour, the price went down and we were able to afford more labour-saving devices.

Banks encouraged their customers to have credit cards so we no longer had to wait until we could afford things. Some retailers now offer years of interest-free credit and it is possible to furnish a house without having to part with any money for a long time.

Our discussion then looked at the difference in young people today and how we were expected to behave in our youth. Were we expected to be more mature at an earlier age, we wondered?

Many of our group were married with children at an age which is now considered far too young to have taken on such a great responsibility.

We asked ourselves if this maturity was because of the expectations of our parents, and the fact that we didn’t have every desire fulfilled and had to wait for things, as the professor at Stanford University had concluded in his Marshmallow experiment.

We had to end our discussion with many questions still unanswered, with one especially prominent in our thoughts: with all the goods now available and with their very limited life span, what are we going to do with all the waste?