I didn’t know what traffic really was until I moved to Atlanta. I know it’s worse in other larger cities but no one can deny the fact that Atlanta traffic can be horrible at times for no apparent reason. In New Orleans, where I’m from, traffic can usually be explained. It’s raining. There’s construction or dense fog. An accident is up ahead. A car stalled on the ‘high rise’. But in Atlanta, in most cases, the traffic is unexplainable. There very well may be trouble up ahead but there’s a chance that you’ll never know what the holdup was before you reach your destination.
And so it is with life. I get frustrated when I feel like I’m sitting somewhere stagnant for a period of time and can’t really pinpoint why. I pray harder, read my Bible or a self-help book, call up my friends, make a few changes in my mind, all in an effort to find out what’s really going on and why I’m not moving or why I'm moving at such a slow pace. Recently, I was sitting in the inevitable Atlanta traffic in silence and received a rush hour revelation: even though I was moving at a creepy crawly pace or sometimes not moving at all, I was still on my way to where I was supposed to be.
When he was teaching me how to drive, my dad would always warn me about immature drivers. It wasn’t at all about age. He said you could always point them out because they weave through traffic for no apparent reason other than impatience. They feel that switching lanes every chance they get will get them to their destination sooner. Sound familiar?
Sidebar. In life and in traffic, sometimes changing lanes is necessary. Like, when it’s time for you to exit the situation or when you need to pull over because something is wrong with your vehicle. Or, the lane could be ending in 1,000 feet. When you can see trouble ahead that can be avoided, if you feel the need, change lanes.
When we cannot see what’s going on up ahead, sudden lane-switching can actually cause harm to ourselves and the people around us. When we're impulsively switching lanes, we often don't think to put on a signal to let others around us know that we're making a move. This is how we end up hurting people—by making impulsive decisions out of impatience and selfishness. It may cause the people around us to be caught off guard. Then they have to make an unnecessary impulsive decision of their own which could domino into a multi-car pileup! Suicide, mass shootings, debt, fender benders and T-bones... Often times they are the result of someone’s impulsive decision made because whatever was going on at the moment was not resolving fast enough. Breathe...
One thing I’ve learned about Atlanta traffic and about life is that if you remain alert and you pump the brakes when you need to and accelerate when you need to, you’ll get to where you're supposed to be. Stay in your lane and eventually things will start to move along. Once things start moving along and you get closer to your destination, you’ll forget about the setback. You’ll forget about the extra five minutes it took to get you there because you will have arrived!
Not everyone will make it to their destination without incident. We may get pretty darn close, but most of us will never have to experience a deadly car accident, major illness, or tragic loss. So remember, while you’re stuck in your traffic jam, whatever it may be, you may end up arriving to your destination a little later than intended but you’ll actually be right on time. It's divine, honey. If you had been 5 minutes earlier or even just 60 seconds earlier, you could have been caught up in the mess you couldn’t see ahead of you. So be thankful for the vehicle, turn up your music and enjoy the ride. Call your boss and let her know you’re stuck in traffic. (She’ll probably tell you to drive safely.) You’ll get there soon enough.
