I am not a really 'green' and will only walk to work if I am too broke to fill up my tank. I live a 10 minute walk away from work and I am sure by not walking to work I am increasing my carbon footprint and worsening my unfit state. I complained a few months ago about how reckless Harare drivers are, and what a nightmare it is to drive in Harare. It used to be just specific parts of the city but now its freaking everywhere! I am over any road rage that I might have harboured still. Fuel is freaking expensive! Time is freaking expensive! And you spend two hours in traffic with your foot firmly on the clutch (or the brake pedal if you drive an automatic) for so long that by the time you get home you need a full body massage.
Yesterday I dropped my kids off at home and promptly backed into a stationary car which had parked behind me as the kids got out of the car. I had been thinking about the mountains of marking waiting for me at work and curtains I needed to make for a friend's house. I was tired, emotional and absentminded. Never looked to check there was noone or nothing behind me.
Talk about reckless! Not the person who parked behind me. No. Me! I was shocked. I had joined the rank of the faceless hundreds who regularly persecute others on the roads! I was so shaken that I almost left the car to walk back to work. But I like my sedentary lifestyle (although not the body that comes with it) and I gave in to the urge and drove back to work shaking all the way. Although there was no damage to my car or the one I backed into, the incident showed me that I need to rethink the way I relate with my surroundings and people on the road.
Driving is almost the same as life, negotiating (meandering through relations which are fraught with land mines), compromising (lowering your standards for the greater good), giving way (letting others have their way for the sake of peace), hitting a speed bump (those moments in life when your life just literary stops; loss, retrenchment, death, heartbreak or an event which makes take stock of your life), getting stopped to let others by (those times when we selfishly pursue our own agendas and someone gives us a reality check), and sometimes taking the favoured road (when you life is going just right). As with the traffic lights you stop, you are cautioned and you are free to go.
I will try not to shout at fellow motorists who up to now seemed to make stupid mistakes. My speed bump showed me that I too can make those mistakes I previously thought lame and stupid. Reality check.
peace,
fadz
Yesterday I dropped my kids off at home and promptly backed into a stationary car which had parked behind me as the kids got out of the car. I had been thinking about the mountains of marking waiting for me at work and curtains I needed to make for a friend's house. I was tired, emotional and absentminded. Never looked to check there was noone or nothing behind me.
Talk about reckless! Not the person who parked behind me. No. Me! I was shocked. I had joined the rank of the faceless hundreds who regularly persecute others on the roads! I was so shaken that I almost left the car to walk back to work. But I like my sedentary lifestyle (although not the body that comes with it) and I gave in to the urge and drove back to work shaking all the way. Although there was no damage to my car or the one I backed into, the incident showed me that I need to rethink the way I relate with my surroundings and people on the road.
Driving is almost the same as life, negotiating (meandering through relations which are fraught with land mines), compromising (lowering your standards for the greater good), giving way (letting others have their way for the sake of peace), hitting a speed bump (those moments in life when your life just literary stops; loss, retrenchment, death, heartbreak or an event which makes take stock of your life), getting stopped to let others by (those times when we selfishly pursue our own agendas and someone gives us a reality check), and sometimes taking the favoured road (when you life is going just right). As with the traffic lights you stop, you are cautioned and you are free to go.
I will try not to shout at fellow motorists who up to now seemed to make stupid mistakes. My speed bump showed me that I too can make those mistakes I previously thought lame and stupid. Reality check.
peace,
fadz
elaborate on the speed bubmp
ReplyDeleteThe speed bump works the same way as the speed hump; to ensure you reduce speed. You sometimes encounter so many humps that your life just stops and you have to take stock of where you are and where you are going. An event occurs which forces you to re evaluate your life and map a new path. A speed bump is divine retribution if your life is spiraling out of control.
ReplyDelete