Looking Back
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Permanently added to my list of favourite things to do is looking into the car's rear view mirror at stop lights. Besides a means to kill time, there is something soothing about watching the blank stares of other folks. Makes me feel like I'm not the only one sucked into this never ending cycle of daily commuting just to earn one's keep. Green is always good, it gets you there faster, saves fuel and your leg won't feel as cramped. And red, well... is a pain.
In a country where traffic lights and courtesy-impaired/ speed-egomaniac/ turnsignal-phobic/ brake-happy/ lala land-oblivious /bumper-tagging /slow-mo-moronic drivers lurk at every corner, I confess that as an already impatient person, I'm well on the way to signing up for Road Rage Anonymous. Stopping at a red light on a bad day while a slow-mo-moronic driver ahead just managed to slip past at amber will most certainly leave me entertaining the thought of catching up to that car
As a healthier alternative, people watching is one of the ways I can calm myself down as I have been succumbing to bouts of anger lately. Instead of the road ahead, I'd seen couples, parents-children, business partners, seniors, youngsters, group of friends and even a man with a potted plant on the passenger seat. I briefly escaped from my world to wonder about the kind of lives they may lead. Did the elderly taxi driver with a massive tattoo along his left arm have a coloured past? Was the young executive with a loud red tie mentally reviewing his work to-do list or his play to-do list? Why is it after months of driving, I'd seen only ONE couple really look as if they enjoyed each other's company. In those freeze frame moments, I'm constantly reminded that we are all differently wired humans with differently drawn, intertwining paths (even though we drive like we're the only ones on the road).
So as long as you're not running late, red lights are not so bad after all. |
