Awakenings

You know, driving a vehicle is weird.  We get inside these huge machines and head down this space that’s designated for the machines, and then we accelerate to high speeds that could kill us if we happen to collide into other “machines.”  It’s like another world out there on the highway.  Different car styles, shapes and colors.  Loud trucks that drive slowly and get into the passing lane just when you want to pass another car…and then you’re stuck behind the truck.  And is it just me, or does it seem like the truck suddenly gets slower once it gets into the passing lane?!  (As you can tell, trucks can make me very annoyed when I drive). And then there are motercycles and all the different looking people who ride them.  It’s like this other reality takes place when we’re all driving together.  A reality of rights and violations and unfairness, or of busy thoughts as we think about where we’re headed to.  We seem to forget that we are all sacred human souls with our different stories and journeys and loved ones.  We seem to take on this defensiveness when we get behind the wheel, this feeling that “all are out to get me.”

I was driving the other day when I ran into a traffic jam.  You know the kind, where it seems to materialize out of nowhere.  We were all flying down the road with all our appointments and agendas nagging, when suddenly, life as we knew it came to a crawl.  Red tail lights everywhere, vehicles inching along.  And then you have the idiots who think honking will somehow help.  Really?  Anyway, there we all were, inching along.  Of course we’re all wondering what is causing the holdup.  Is it an accident? (Which, by the way, definantly brings us back to reality when we are flying down the road in these huge machines.  An accident reminds us that we are mortal and fragile and that the agenda is really not that important).  Was it a cop stopping someone?  What could is possibly be?

After what seemed like forever, I inched closer to where I could catch a view of the cause of the traffic jam.  On this 3-lane highway, one lane was merging into the other two, so that it was becoming a 2-lane highway.  But that’s not what was causing the delay.  The traffic jam was being caused because every car was trying to speed ahead on the merging lane, and then at the last-minute trying to swerve into the next lane.  It’s as if the drivers were thinking: “if I can just get up close enough, then I can beat 3 cars and get ahead.”  What they didn’t seem to realize was the fact that this action was causing a reaction for every car behind them, in every lane!  And it was progressing backwards, causing more and more cars behind them to have to put on the brakes.

After being annoyed that this selfishness was causing all of us to suffer, it occurred to me that we do the same thing in a lot of other places in life, not just on a highway while driving.  We think about “getting ahead” and if we can cut corners so that we can get our ever-so-important agenda done, we’ve won for that day.  We don’t think about all the people behind us and around us that will have to react to the actions we set in motion.  We don’t realize that we can cause others in their journey to slow down and be effected by our mistakes.  What we don’t seem to understand is that every decision or choice we make, does effect others for either good or bad.  We are that powerful!

I like this music video I saw on a friend’s Facebook post.  It’s called Forgotten Promises.  It’s talking about ending world hunger.  At first I wasn’t sure about the title of the video, but now I think I understand.  Most of us don’t like to see someone starving or in pain or suffering.  And so we make promises of one kind or another.  Maybe it’s to sponsor a child.  Maybe it’s to choose more ethically in the way we spend our money.  Maybe it’s to eat less and not be a glutton.  But sometimes, a lot of times, we forget these promises.  We get caught up in the game of life.  We get distracted in the hurry of the rat race, and like the drivers on a highway, we forget that we are all fragile creatures connected with the same stuff.  We are all human.  We all have our stories.  We all have our journeys and our loved ones.  We forget that our actions will cause reactions, either for good or bad to others around the world.  And my choice to try to selfishly cut corners and “get ahead”, may result in a huge “traffic jam” of people who are held back from their destinations that they were created for.  We are more powerful than we realize.  May we all remember and celebrate the fact that we are connected and that every action has direct, immediate repercussions on other sacred souls.  Let’s remember that we’re all made of the same stuff.  We’re all brothers and sisters.  And if we are this powerful alone, how crazy powerful we are when we choose to connect and unite to change the world for the better.