three wisdom lessons the traffic light teaches us

By: Roland K.L. Ofori [email protected] http://rolandoforispeaks.com/

THREE WISDOM LESSONS THE TRAFFIC LIGHT TEACHES US


Introduction

The traffic light holds some of the deepest secrets of life, peace and longevity. By merely observing the very simple mechanism, there so much being revealed to us which goes beyond “Red means Stop, Yellow Means Get Ready, Green Means Go! The traffic light preaches to us every day, but unfortunately many of us neither have the ears to hear or have simply chosen to ignore it.

The following are some of the Key Lessons I have Picked from Observing the Traffic Light:

1. AN ATTEMPT TO PLEASE EVERYBODY IS A SURE RECIPE FOR DISASTER

At a very busy intersection where you have thousands of cars pouring out by the minute, every driver’s desire is to quickly cross that intersection and get to their destination as soon as possible. Interestingly the traffic light cares less about the urgency of drivers. Its main duty is to regulate the flow of traffic, so at a point, a section of the vehicles must stop for others to move and vice versa. Can you imagine if the traffic at say Kawukudi Junction turns green for all the vehicles to pass at the same time? There will be imminent disaster of unimaginable proportions, leading to loss of lives of properties. So you see, as much as the traffic light understand that all drivers wants to move as fast as possible, it cannot please everyone at the same time by turning green at all four corners! Such is life, you cannot please everyone at the same time. It is said that anyone who tries to please everybody will end up pleasing no one. We are like the traffic light, we must turn red on others, halting them from advancing into our lives, turn green on others, inviting them to cruise with us whilst others must simply wait until they have attained the maturity required to come close to us. You must always be prepared to make hard choices, having the end in mind. In life we all need someone at a point in order to become somebody, but the truth is that you don’t need everybody in order to become who you want to be. Choose your friends carefully, cut out negative people ,energy sappers and those I call the “yes men”, rather hang out with positive people, motivators and those who will force you out of your comfort zone to become the best you are meant to be. 2. SHORT CUTS WILL CUT YOUR LIFE SHORT The traffic light might not come across as powerful or intimidating but the truth is that it really is! Crossing the red light might come across as fun or being smart, no matter the reason you might have it is still wrong. You might get away with it most of the times especially in our part of the


world, but your sins have a way of catching up with you, where you can lose your life or be maimed for life simply because you chose to jump the red light and got crushed into another vehicle. The key lesson here is that we should not be in the habit of taking short cuts, breaking the rules and going for the easier way out as most of this generation are fond of doing. I will give you this crude example to demonstrate the point about the devastating effects of short cuts! Imagine you meet a very beautiful lady at a party who you instantly fall in love with and desire her so much. There are two ways you can go about it: The short cut or the long run. For the shortcut you can find means of rapping her and fulfilling your desires. It is instant gratification , but the consequences will be devastating, a court judge will be happy to dole out a thirty-year sentence for your five minute act. You will lose your respect, dignity and bring shame to your family.In the extreme case , you can even lose your life through the revenge of those close to the lady. There are many instances in the Bible where promising young men were killed because they chose to forcibly have their way with the women they desired. Names like Schechem(for raping Dinah, daughter of Jacob) and Amnon( for raping Tamar, daughter of David) readily come to mind. For the long run, you may have to befriend the lady, visit her or take her out a couple of times, propose to her, marry her and then you can have as much as you want!. This may take months or even years, but at the end of the day, the lady will feel respected, you will receive blessings instead of a jail sentence and you will hopefully live happily ever after. We are in a microwave world, where we want everything instant and fast – fasts cars, fast jets, fast money, fast women, which ultimately results in fast death. Look around the Obituaries in town and you will realize most of the deceased were only in the prime of their lives. Today parents and Grandparents are rather burying their children. If there is one virtue I desire the more , it is patience,-patience to grow, learn my craft, wait for my time and seek to understand my purpose here on this earth. A man with the virtue of patience will achieve more sitting down than a man of haste running around.


3. FAIRNESS IS KEY IN ACHIEVING PEACE & HARMONY Beneath any agitation, riot or uprising is the feeling of lack of fairness and injustice. so many wars have taken place, so many lives lost and ruined and so many great and promising nations destroyed because at one point some people felt they were not being treated fairly. In life, in order to make an impact and leave a lasting legacy, you must learn to treat all men fairly. There is so much discrimination on the basis of skin color, religion, creed, ethnicity, language, race, school, wealth status etc.. It is amazing that places like the churches where you may expect to have remedy for discrimination even practice same. I personally believe that discrimination is for the simple and shallow minded, it is a cheap tool to make them feel important, a façade meant to hide the deep seated inferiority complex they suffer. The traffic light operates on the principle of fairness, the drivers have to wait for their turn irrespective of how quickly they want to reach their destination or the prize tag on their vehicles. The traffic light won’t change its operation to suit the desires of those who push the latest cars in town! The paradox here is that this fair device called the traffic light was created by the hands of man, who struggles to be fair to his neighbor Reflect on these truths and make your life and those around you better going forward. From the desk of ROL NB: All images credit to Google images

three wisdom lessons the traffic light teaches us

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