Traffic

In the big apple, where everyone is on the move and always in a hurry, traffic has an ironic way of slowing us down. In the obvious sense, traffic is horrible and a complete waste of time and resources. However, when we’re not so overwhelmed with impatience or what/where we may be running late for, we can actually allow that moment in traffic to beautifully tell us a story about life.

In traffic, all these different motor vehicles of varying size, power, color, etc. simply stop. Behind each of these vehicles sits a driver from somewhere in the world. The exact random sequence of these specific cars will never happen again. In fact, a majority of the drivers on the road that we share each day will never make eye contact much less communicate. On the road, our entire being is manifested in that automobile. The vehicle is our representative and our driving abilities represents our “personality and worth”. But does one ever wonder, who really lies behind the steering wheel? Not the representative I see on the road, the real person. I did today —

While commuting home on the I-95S at 5:00pm, vehicular movement was non-existent. I sat idly listening to music thinking when I peered through my rearview and saw a person. I never met this person and it was just another driver on the road. But in that moment of stagnation I began to wonder, what was this person’s name, did they have any children, where did they come from, was this their normal route from work etc. Then I looked to my right and began asking similar questions about that driver there as well. And then to my left, following the same suit. In a moment where many people exude extreme frustration, I took in the actual lives behind the paint and steel that shields us away from each other in our daily commutes.

It was a magical experience as I felt I had a deeper connection with everyone on the road by simply acknowledge them as a person of life and not merely just a driver of an automobile. Unexpected yet very appreciative, I guess even in traffic you can take in the beauty of life if your eyes are open to the possibilities. Thank God for traffic.