Have you ever been sitting at a stoplight in a row of cars and looked away or down for a moment only to be startled by a horn blast from behind you? I’ve even started to let off the brake to go, only to find that they weren’t honking at me at all but at some car in front of me who hasn’t noticed that the light has been green for a whole 2-3 seconds and is still not moving. It can be quite unnerving as your heart tries to recover from the jump-start it just got.
Well I just got back from my first trip overseas. I went to Thailand with a mission group from my church. It’s amazing to see how different we are from other countries. There are different laws and customs, and everything generally looks different. We traveled through Singapore on the way there where I saw signs that told us drug trafficking was punishable by death! (I wonder if they have fewer problems than us.) One of the customs in Thailand is to leave your shoes outside so as not to bring dirt in the house, so wherever you go you see tennis shoes, sandals and other footwear all outside the door of the house. One morning when I got up I had a problem with my right shoe seeming a little tight. Well I figured out you should check you shoes for frogs (and other creatures) before you put them on!
Anyway, one of the most noticeable differences to me was the traffic. You drive on the opposite side of the road from what we do and the steering wheels are on the right side of the cars. People drove all over the road and there were motorbikes, or mopeds, everywhere. It appeared chaotic from my “shotgun” seat in the taxi and a little frightening at times. It seemed like we were always inches away from hitting someone or being hit. Surprisingly, I didn’t see one accident while I was there. There was something I began to notice though that is something new to me after living in California most of my life…these people in traffic were “sharing” the roads. No one was claiming ownership of any lane or intersection. They were all getting along…peaceful in their travels. The only time I heard a horn honk was when…get this…out of courtesy, they would give a short honk to let someone know they were there close by, and to be careful. There was no anger, no shaking of fist, no salutes to tell you “you’re #1”, just a peaceful, cooperative, calm, commute from here to there. I began to wonder what this would look like in America and I just couldn’t see it ever happening.
For us it seems like our rights come first over everything…even the rights of others. I see people making dangerous passes, even in the fog, that they are sure they have the right to make even if it does jeopardize the lives of those around them. We cut each other off and insist on having the right of way. We blast our horns thinking that’s going to help the situation when all it does is startle those around us. We yell, curse, and some have even shot people, all to claim the right of way. Some would consider Thailand as more “primitive” but I think they are way beyond us in how to get along as we go through our day to day travels.
I used to wait till the last minute to get up for work and when I left my house any small delay would have me running to the time clock. I would jump on the freeway, stressed and worried over whether I was going to make it on time or not. Once I did get clocked in it would take a little while to calm down. Then one day it occurred to me that if I got up a little earlier and left my house earlier, that my day might start out so much more calm and peaceful. So I tried it, and it worked. I don’t even take the freeway anymore. I drive calmly down the residential roads listening peacefully to my worship music and when I arrive at work I feel no stress. Starting our day with stress can ruin the whole day and all it usually takes to avoid the stress is getting up a little earlier (if you have kids you have to get up and going this may not be possible and I sympathize with you). Also, our stress usually overflows onto others around us, ruining their morning too.
I was backing out of a parking space one day and there was a lady a few spots down that since she had started to back out too, thought I might hit her. I wasn’t even going to be close to her and I watched her as she panicked and instead of stopping and shifting to pull forward (which really wasn’t going to be necessary) she slammed the palm of her hand on the horn. I felt bad that she was panicking but I had to laugh at the fact that she thought honking the horn was a better choice than moving out of the way. Did you know that the original purpose for the horn was for the “safety” of animals and pedestrians? Things sure have changed.
If I was going to bring one thing back from Thailand it would be the peacefulness of the people there. The peace there wasn’t just in traffic, it was everywhere. I think for us, a peaceful drive to work everyday would be a good place to start…and for me, it has changed my life.
By Glen Bryant
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