Wednesday 21 January 2009

The Road Home




Today, like yesterday had me in a bus for about 2hours on a journey home from work that should normally not take more than 30minutes (like a friend noted that in this part of the world distance is measured in time). Normally meaning very very early in the morning or very very very late at night when you are almost the only one on the road.

In that time, my mind was working from here to there, picking up topics, recalling scenes, even pulling out from my subconscious a couple of things i did not even know were still there. Just as i started trying more to focus on only one thing at a time, i heard someone say "they are sleeping o". i jerked my head forward to catch a glimpse of what everybody in the bus, all sticking their necks out, were commenting loudly about it. I noticed also that the blaring of horns was louder than usual. And then i saw what everybody was looking at. A car somewhat parked, whose brake light was on, in the middle of a thick traffic that had only just started to move. Apparently, the horns were from other car owners behind the static vehicle, and these poor drivers needed to bail.

On taking a closer look into the car, we (all of us with us with our craning necks) discovered that the occupants of the vehicle were sleeping! They had all the glasses wound up and i imagined the air con was on and some really cool music was probably lullabying softly in the background. Unfortunately their bodies got the wrong signal and off they went to bed or do i say off they went to "car seats". What with all the work they had probably done at work that day.

Ironically,as much as all the drivers behind desperately wanted to get out, no one wanted to actually wake them up to move away from the spot. Eventually, one man so intrigued by the sight, decided to help. A soon as he was at par with the parked car, he came out and knocked on the glass on the drivers side. The driver woke up with a start and drove off so fast you'd think he'd been driving the whole time (or maybe in his sleep) to the jeers of other drivers and all the passengers my bus. (All that time the lane on which our bus was moving had not moved much so we were able to watch all the drama). After the "sleeping" driver moved off, our bus was active for another hour or so with everyone bringing their own opinions from the scene. And for some smaller groups in the bus, on thing led to another. I was amazed at how simply talking about people sleeping in their car gave rise to causes of road accidents to talk about crazy bosses that over work their employees and leave them fatigued and they went on and on till the bus got to my bus stop and i stepped out.

The whole "drama" got me thinking about life and the road called destiny. it seems to me like it is a long road with everybody on their own tracks. From what i see it is neither a race nor a competition. Everyone receives the same instruction in a manual and are expected to live by it. There are also road rules like no u-turn, no parking, one-way only, sharp bend ahead etc and it is up to the road user to read the signs and carefully follow them to arrive safely at his destination. A driver who sleeps while driving on the road may be in for some serious trouble(anything can happen); also one who drinks and drives may also be paving way for something he might regret.

Similarly, on the roads of destiny there are some rules that are common to all men given by the master instructor and working against them means setting oneself up for destruction. Some other people on the destiny road do not even know where they are going and walk into other people's lanes just because they think those people are doing well on their own lanes. They forget that every man's lane is peculiar to the person. Just the same way some cars are only built for some kind of roads. The truth is no one knows how one should ply the road of destiny more than the one who made the road, the same one who put the vehicles on the road and wrote the manuals.

Some other people, a third, (apart from those who ignore the rules or who move around into other people's lanes), simply stay in one place, refusing to move because they do not know where they are going or how to get there. Today, know that you have all it takes to move out of that place into where you ought to be. The manufacturer of automobiles know that they should put a brake as well as an accelerator and everything else needed to make the vehicle run smoothly. It would then be foolish of the vehicle to say it cannot move. You can move, you can rise, you can accelerate, you can run into that place where you'll find contentment and satisfaction. But first it starts with having an d maintaining a relationship with the original designer and manufacturer.

P.S Don't mind criticism when you're right and do not ignore it when you are wrong . Lesson from the honking of the car horns that could not wake the sleeping passengers.

There is a road home from work and a road home to the one to whom i am ultimately accountable to. It is important the way i choose to navigate it.

1 comment:

  1. na wah o. tried callng no show.
    Good to c you're back.
    the road home for me is a time to read, listen to messages, and reflect on my ideas.
    cheers

    ReplyDelete



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