Those dangerous things

Driving back home from office one evening, I found myself behind this truck that was loaded with long wooden poles and wooden planks bearing nails in them, obviously being transferred to or from a construction site. What struck me was that it was veering through some very busy streets, without a cover or a door on its wares. There was no person to warn the other users of the road. Nothing to indicate the potential danger that was contained in the truck.

I believe I drive safely, though fast if the road is free which it was on that day, till I reached this point. The truck was quite slow thanks to the weight, so initially I got close to the rear of the truck, honking a few times to alert the driver and hoping to overtake it once and for all, and go ahead. This, despite having observed all that was unsafe in front of me.

But once close to the truck, I realised I was in a danger zone because I drove a small car – any car would be small in comparison to the height of the truck – and any moment, a pole or a plank could easily slip from the heap and break through my front glass and poke me very cruelly. With that revelation I slowly took my foot off the accelerator and deliberately allowed the truck to go away from me, so that I could be far from it. I could hear vehicles behind me honking seeing the distance I was giving the truck, even a two-wheeler with a woman and a little girl trying to overtake the truck, but I had decided to stay a good distance away for my own good.

Once home I sat myself on the bed and began reflecting on the evening’s ‘incident’ and what I could learn from it.

In this journey of life also, we come across people of different characters, with varied attitudes and beliefs and from all walks of life. Some, blunt like the poles in the truck, seem harmless but can inflict unimaginable harm on unsuspecting others that cross their paths. Then there are others who are like the planks with the nails jutting out. Very contact with them can deflate our enthusiasm, discourage us or even hurt us deeply. They are best left to themselves unless interacting with them is unavoidable.

At times, we may feel like making an attempt to talk to people – like I did honking to the driver – into changing their ways, and not succeed when we actually do it. This is dangerous, for, we could get influenced – read affected - by them and lose ourselves to their way of thinking. Alternatively, we might consider ignoring the disturbance and going on our journey yet not very far from them. Yes, many a time, we need to be on the same road with others but with a totally different goal in mind. 

The most peaceful path however, is to steer clear of worthless, irrelevant, or negative influences, to ensure a peaceful state of mind which will then allow us to focus on our goal. There is no point in trying to change such others using the precious energy that we have.

This may seem a passive option to some, but when we leave out choices which can stress us and sap our energy, nothing can stop us from becoming stronger and achieving more than what we would have if we continued being foolishly aggressive and followed those dangerous things.