I was sitting in a commercial bus on my way to work. I was already late and to make matters worse, I was stuck in traffic. I was silently saying a prayer in my head and wishing that the traffic lights would just disappear along with all the cars except mine. That was just wishful thinking. My bus was rooted to the spot and had not moved for a very long time, I felt it was rather unusual. I therefore decided to find out what was causing this unusual hold-up. To my utter dismay and disappointment, I saw a convention of cars scattered all over. At first I thought there had been an accident along the road. My prayer was somehow getting a reply because my driver saw an opportunity to expertly meander his way through the chaos. He did it like a rockstar. We were all eager to find out if there was any casualty. When we got to the centre of attraction; the place where the traffic had originated, we discovered that no one was involved in an accident, rather, it was the traffic lights that were faulty and this had caused the "artificial traffic". When we finally got to the spot, I was saddened yet glad that at least I could continue my journey to work. To my surprise, I saw a police patrol car also stuck in the frenzy. Even more chilling was the fact that all the occupants of the patrol car were deeply engaged in a hearty chat so much so that they cared less about what was going on. At that very moment I was even more sad as I heard one passenger in my bus say "oh Africa". It was like he had added insult to injury to my already bruised heart. I was disturbed yet happy because I had an idea; a thought that I could pen down so we can ponder over. As my driver swerved the scene and we were in the clear, I thought to myself that as humans as we are, we normally treat life like a rat race. We want to outdo each other. We want to outsmart each other. Sometimes our selfish tendencies makes us greedy because we want the "prize" all to ourselves. We tend to forget that we are not the only ones with that intention. We all think we can outsmart each other so in the bid of attaining our selfish goals, we rather pool our selfish interests together and we get stuck. We all want to cut corners to finish the race of life. I created an analogy in my head. The road stood for whatever resource we have at our disposal; the police patrol car stood for the authorities; my bus and the other vehicles represented the masses and the faulty traffic light, yes you guessed it, it stands for the law. Now let's do the math. We are all surviving on our resources which are already insufficient yet we all must get a bite come what may so per our position, we the masses strive to get as close as possible to the resources which we normally only get "crumbs" The authorities find themselves in the same situation but they seem to care less, you know why? It is simple, whether we the masses suffer or not, they will still get their " huge cut of the national cake" and when we the masses think we are at the same level with the authorities, they "show" us who wields the power by just turning on their "sirens" and then surprisingly, we the masses fall over each other to pave way for them to pass through without stress. Oh the traffic light, I almost forgot about it because I cannot seem to remember the last time our laws actually worked. We therefore have created our own set of laws and go by them.
Everything will work for our good if we all do our bit. First of, we must fix the traffic lights because it is the major cause of stagnation and underdevelopment. Moving on, we must use our numbers as the people to get the police officers to alight from their patrol cars and take control of our situation where there are no "traffic lights" and we the masses must tow the line of vigilance to ensure that each party carries out its duty. It is only when that is done well will we all get a stress-free bite of the national cake and we can come back for more without having to wait in line for too long. My name is Edwin Oko Lamptey and this is an analogical R.A.T (RANDOM AFRICAN THOUGHT).
More at randomafricanthoughts.blogspot.com OR eddylampz.wordpress.com
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