Maitreya the future Buddha. Why the long wait?

Thinking some more on the subject of enlightenment.

There seems to be a contradiction between the assertion that enlightenment is possible for anyone, even in this lifetime, providing we make enough effort and the assertion that the next Buddha will be Maitreya who will appear in the distant future to save the Dharma from extinction. It's a bit like waiting for a British player to win Wimbledon!

According to most traditions the route to becoming a Buddha is by taking the Bodhisattva vow, practising the six perfections and passing through ten Bhumis or grounds. Then it seems there is a choice of renouncing full Buddha hood and leading others to enlightenment or electing to become a full Buddha and then leading others to enlightenment. It seems quite difficult doesn't it?

 Are there two classes of enlightenment? I say two because of the apparent enlightenment of some who came into contact with the Buddha's teachings, without it seems even being a Bodhisattva. The Buddha's sixty enlightened disciples for example who went forth to spread the Dharma. So it seems there is a Buddha ( first class enlightenment ) and those who are just enlightened ( second class )  A sort of Buddhist ' Upstairs, downstairs '

What is the average western Buddhist to make of this?

One way of making sense of this is to treat Maitreya as a metaphor. Maitreya means ' Compassionate One ' so perhaps when the seed of Buddha nature is activated and awakened it is natural for compassion to arise. Could one not therefore treat Maitreya as the future potential within all of us? To take Maitreya literally as the next Buddha does seem to take enlightenment out of reach with no possibility for anyone else in the ( long ) meantime. After all waiting for the next Buddha would be like waiting for the next coming of Christ! So as I said in my previous article ' Enlightenment. The impossible dream. ' maybe enlightenment is just a higher state of consciousness and that it is definitely attainable for all of us, as it was for the Buddha's disciples.