Red Lights

On a very good Monday morning, I was on transit passing through the Eke Awka round-about. As early as it was, there was enough traffic congestion to remind me that I was in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State. Everywhere was clustered with pedestrians and okada riders (motocyclists) since there was no track for them. The petty traders who resorted to the same road side rather than the market as the best place for greater sales made matters worse. One will hardly know the differene between the main road and the market stores. The traffic regulators on the roads were left in a state of confusion. There seemed to be disagreement between them and the police men also on the road. We had to stay for some time before the road was cleared. Some passengers alighted and joined the pedestrians to get to their various destinations. I reserved my thought for the government who allowed such things to happen in a capital city such as Awka. Just immediately, the traffic light went red and the driver took to a halt. Some vehicles behind us who seemingly acted like they did not see the red light drove pass it. I watched in total disarray. Then the unruly passengers with me began to shout to the driver to also dance to the same tone of music as others. I sighed heavily, took a deep breath and looked outside the window in disappointment. Yes, this is Awka and this has become our culture. Negligence! We all see these things, and we don’t do anything to help matters.
Now let’s look at the crux of the matter. In the same bus that I entered were students, traders, civil workers and other calibres of people. We were all headed to different destinations. We also boarded the bus at different stands. Probably, the civil workers were way behind their schedules and at that time wanted the driver to neglect the traffic light. The students also thought of the punishment for lateness at school, also wanted the driver to be a law offender. Then the traders who at that point may have felt that others would have bought all the goods in the market wished the driver would fly. We all want to reach our destination at same time forgetting that we never boarded the bus together. We want a better country, state and capital yet we run pass red lights and chose to disobey traffic regulators.
It’s a new year and everyone wants to achieve something. Something great and something worthwhile. We do not want to see red lights. We all want the green light to never go off and we all end up making our lives miserable just like Eke Awka round-about. Though the traffic offenders were there, no one looked at them.
Nobody is in a race with anybody. We all have our different lives to live. We all have our different ways to go. How we take the journey doesn’t really matter but our destination matters alot. That’s life. Red lights are part of life. Always remember this. They’ll keep coming and you’ll meet them. It requires patience to pass them. It can come inform of procrastination. Laziness, ingratitude and the likes.
For a student, your red light can be bad lectures and lecturers, bad grades, costly fees and others. You will have to face them. They are all part of life. You may act like the unruly passengers and drivers, trying to drive pass a red light. At the end of the other road, you will be endangered.
How we understand and deal with them differently matters a lot. But at the end, we must pass them and get to our destination. It’s just but a matter of time. They won’t last long just like the traffic lights. The green light is never always on.