Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
So I was set. I had chosen to let passion rule my life and ignore money which I was certain would follow where my passions lead me. I had also chosen to believe that as a child of an invincible God with potential invincibility in me, I have the ability to acquire anything I wanted.
In convincing myself to make these choices, I considered what I had seen become of children who had been completely neglected, let out into the world without an education and with no-one to care for them. These children become gum sniffing street children who we in Kenya, snidely refer to as ‘chokoras’ meaning children who scrape out a living in garbage bins and dumps. I think in England they were called street ‘urchins’ when I was there.
Governments, Non-governmental Organizations, charities and philanthropists the world over have put massive efforts trying to salvage these lost children, establishing homes for them trying to give them direction and act in their best interests. Most of the time, the minute these children get an opportunity to run away from these homes, they grab at it completely oblivious to the opportunities they are throwing away and the abilities they are refusing to exploit.
If God had not sent me here to get an education and familiarize myself with my potential abilities, I would have become the lowest form of brat possible. I would have become a ‘chokora’ in heaven. Imagine that! While everyone else is busy flying around on wings in heaven and shouting at me to just let my wings out and fly too, I would be busying myself looking for my car keys completely oblivious to the wings on my back! No way was I going to become a heavenly ‘chokora’ thank you very much. I needed to be able to exploit my invincible abilities in heaven to the maximum. I decided that my pride would ensure that I am the most invincible of the invincibles in heaven and to achieve that, the sooner I wisen up to my abilities the better. I think that if I die before realizing my abilities and learning how to use them and control them here on earth, it will be too late to do it in heaven.
At this point, I was delirious. I needed to take a reality check and digest what I was actually doing with my life. I had to be certain that I was on the right path to finding that missing ‘something’ in my life and not wandering in some dream-world . I felt like I had not just changed, I had evolved into a creature I could not recognize.
I had changed my attitude as a driver. I had become a giving driver, happily giving way to my fellow road users and feeling a better person for it. I realized that when it comes to road accidents, timing is everything. It still amazed me that I was at that junction at exactly the right minute; the right second for that guy to crash into my car. The route I had used to get to that junction is a route which I use almost on a daily basis. I noticed that between the petrol station where I had stopped to fuel my car on that fateful day and the junction where the accident occurred, I now give way to between 5 to 10 road users.
It goes without saying that the time it takes for me to give way makes some difference to the timing of my arrival at each part of the road as I head towards my destination. It does not necessarily increase the time it takes to get to my destination but it alters the timing of my movements towards my destination.
I realized that perhaps if I had been a conscientious driver, taking into account the needs of my fellow motorists, I would have noticed the several opportunities I had to give way along the road and thereby delayed my arrival time at the junction and saved myself the excess I had to pay to my insurance company to fix my car. It is very possible that I could have avoided that guy and his formula one fantasies had I just stopped even for a minute to give way. The speed at which that guy was moving made a minute seem like a day.
Of course time is not the only factor. The fact that we were both alive in the same city and able to control machinery that could collide also contributed significantly. I have considered calling up the guy to find out what in God’s name he was thinking but I have also asked myself this question which has prevented me making the call. If I was such a mean driver and I got away with only having to pay excess to my insurance company and seek alternative means of commuting while waiting for my car to be repaired, what kind of person is that guy who ended up in a coma in ICU? I don’t think am ready to find that out just yet.
Flowing from this reasoning, I examined my driving a little more and realized that it was still flawed. It is a crime to use your mobile phone while driving. But like most minor traffic offences, many Kenyan drivers, me included, do not allow themselves to appreciate the justification for such a law. I used to keep my mobile phone next to me while driving and when using it while driving, I would keep a watchful eye for any police officers who might nab me. I noticed that the silly coppers had no idea I was holding my phone if I switched to speaker phone when they materialized. How clever was that eh! I did not see the need to get a hands free device. I thought their direct contact with my ears was unhygienic and unhealthy for my ear drums!! Little did I know that using the phone could cause a lot more damage to my health than the hands free device. I thought seriously about what I was doing and decided that I had better stop it.
I decided that these seemingly irrelevant choices of not caring about the needs of my fellow road users and disregarding traffic rules are bound to catch up with me some day. And considering how competitive and proud I am, I would mostly likely create the most gruesome road accident Kenya has ever seen. No thanks to this too. Now my mobile phone stays in my bag until I get to my destination.
Changing my driving was definitely a positive move. What about lift sharing?
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
So I was set. I had chosen to let passion rule my life and ignore money which I was certain would follow where my passions lead me. I had also chosen to believe that as a child of an invincible God with potential invincibility in me, I have the ability to acquire anything I wanted.
In convincing myself to make these choices, I considered what I had seen become of children who had been completely neglected, let out into the world without an education and with no-one to care for them. These children become gum sniffing street children who we in Kenya, snidely refer to as ‘chokoras’ meaning children who scrape out a living in garbage bins and dumps. I think in England they were called street ‘urchins’ when I was there.
Governments, Non-governmental Organizations, charities and philanthropists the world over have put massive efforts trying to salvage these lost children, establishing homes for them trying to give them direction and act in their best interests. Most of the time, the minute these children get an opportunity to run away from these homes, they grab at it completely oblivious to the opportunities they are throwing away and the abilities they are refusing to exploit.
If God had not sent me here to get an education and familiarize myself with my potential abilities, I would have become the lowest form of brat possible. I would have become a ‘chokora’ in heaven. Imagine that! While everyone else is busy flying around on wings in heaven and shouting at me to just let my wings out and fly too, I would be busying myself looking for my car keys completely oblivious to the wings on my back! No way was I going to become a heavenly ‘chokora’ thank you very much. I needed to be able to exploit my invincible abilities in heaven to the maximum. I decided that my pride would ensure that I am the most invincible of the invincibles in heaven and to achieve that, the sooner I wisen up to my abilities the better. I think that if I die before realizing my abilities and learning how to use them and control them here on earth, it will be too late to do it in heaven.
At this point, I was delirious. I needed to take a reality check and digest what I was actually doing with my life. I had to be certain that I was on the right path to finding that missing ‘something’ in my life and not wandering in some dream-world . I felt like I had not just changed, I had evolved into a creature I could not recognize.
I had changed my attitude as a driver. I had become a giving driver, happily giving way to my fellow road users and feeling a better person for it. I realized that when it comes to road accidents, timing is everything. It still amazed me that I was at that junction at exactly the right minute; the right second for that guy to crash into my car. The route I had used to get to that junction is a route which I use almost on a daily basis. I noticed that between the petrol station where I had stopped to fuel my car on that fateful day and the junction where the accident occurred, I now give way to between 5 to 10 road users.
It goes without saying that the time it takes for me to give way makes some difference to the timing of my arrival at each part of the road as I head towards my destination. It does not necessarily increase the time it takes to get to my destination but it alters the timing of my movements towards my destination.
I realized that perhaps if I had been a conscientious driver, taking into account the needs of my fellow motorists, I would have noticed the several opportunities I had to give way along the road and thereby delayed my arrival time at the junction and saved myself the excess I had to pay to my insurance company to fix my car. It is very possible that I could have avoided that guy and his formula one fantasies had I just stopped even for a minute to give way. The speed at which that guy was moving made a minute seem like a day.
Of course time is not the only factor. The fact that we were both alive in the same city and able to control machinery that could collide also contributed significantly. I have considered calling up the guy to find out what in God’s name he was thinking but I have also asked myself this question which has prevented me making the call. If I was such a mean driver and I got away with only having to pay excess to my insurance company and seek alternative means of commuting while waiting for my car to be repaired, what kind of person is that guy who ended up in a coma in ICU? I don’t think am ready to find that out just yet.
Flowing from this reasoning, I examined my driving a little more and realized that it was still flawed. It is a crime to use your mobile phone while driving. But like most minor traffic offences, many Kenyan drivers, me included, do not allow themselves to appreciate the justification for such a law. I used to keep my mobile phone next to me while driving and when using it while driving, I would keep a watchful eye for any police officers who might nab me. I noticed that the silly coppers had no idea I was holding my phone if I switched to speaker phone when they materialized. How clever was that eh! I did not see the need to get a hands free device. I thought their direct contact with my ears was unhygienic and unhealthy for my ear drums!! Little did I know that using the phone could cause a lot more damage to my health than the hands free device. I thought seriously about what I was doing and decided that I had better stop it.
I decided that these seemingly irrelevant choices of not caring about the needs of my fellow road users and disregarding traffic rules are bound to catch up with me some day. And considering how competitive and proud I am, I would mostly likely create the most gruesome road accident Kenya has ever seen. No thanks to this too. Now my mobile phone stays in my bag until I get to my destination.
Changing my driving was definitely a positive move. What about lift sharing?
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