As usual, I took Bus 90 on my way home from the radio studio, where I had an interesting interview with the head of the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration. It was almost midnight and the bus was half full. I took the front seat because it offered the widest space, allowing me to place my heavy bag next to me without disturbing another passenger. I read the World Youth Day 2005 handbook to pass the time.
About ten minutes later a mother and a child entered the bus. They were loudly talking to each other, with the mother repeating the same words many times over as if the child could not comprehend easily. I offered them my seat, since aside from the boy, the mother was also lugging a sizeable trolley. The mother politely refused and asked me to have her son share my seat instead. I nodded yes.
The boy was wearing a straw hat, which looked out of place at such a late night. He was quite talkative and was fascinated by almost everything he saw. When the bus began moving, the mother told her son to hold my hand. The son obliged and we began talking to each other in Italian. He told me that his name was Valerio and that he was eight years old. Honestly, I thought he was about four or five. I mean, he looked and sounded like that.
When we reached Via Nomentana, Valerio noticed that there were so many traffic lights. He counted them as if he was Ferdinand Magellan scoring how many islands he saw when he reached the Philippine archipelago. After some time he declared rather vociferously that red lights were bigger than the other traffic lights.
He must be seeing things, I thought. Traffic lights are always of equal roundness. But just in case he was right, I waited for the next crossroad. And voila I found out that Valerio was right – the red light was bigger than its amber and green counterparts. Which was funny, because traffic lights are part of my everyday life and it was only last night that I noticed the uniqueness of the red light in terms of size.
I reckoned there must be a reason for this. Maybe the ever increasing road mishaps dictated the size. Maybe Italians placed more importance to stopping than going. Or maybe the designer thought it would look fashionably better if red stood out.
Red lights are not actually meant to stop drivers from reaching their destinations. They simply ask them to pause. They need to pause so drivers on the other side of the road can continue their journey safely. Which is very much like human relationships. Sometimes we need to pause, so others could continue going without us hindering them from reaching their goals in life. Sometimes we need to pause to see if we are on the right track. Sometimes we need to pause to rest for a while and find ample strength to continue the journey and to keep us going. And sometimes we need to step on the brakes at the red light so our co-journeyers can keep pace with us.
Valerio stopped counting traffic lights when I reached my destination. All throughout that brief ride he held my hand tightly. His hand was baby soft and warm. At the start of the trip, his mother asked Valerio to hold my hand so he could feel secure. When I alighted from the bus it dawned on me that through his gentle grasp, Valerio unknowingly taught me that sometimes I need to stop at red lights to meet new friends.
Gospel Acclamation of the Day: "God is love, and he who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him." (1 Jn 4:16)
Hi Fr. Stephen! Salamat kaayo sa imong comment sa akong blog. Nag-reply ko sa imong comment, tanaw-a na lang. Nice blog! Keep it up–nalingaw ko sa imong insightful nga posts. Ayo-ayo diha!–Dianegwapa
man0y, nindot imong latest nga post about redlights.. speaking of traffic lights, do you know that here in japan, written in there textbooks, the color of the go signal is blue? Pero actually green jud gud ang color nga naa sa traffic lights. If you ask a typical Japanese “what is the color of the go light?”, he/she would say blue, but for the “enlightened ones”, muingon sila green. But i really read there booklets on traffic rules, written and drawn and coloured there, the go light is blue… Pretty interesting!! Dayon kay mao man ang naa sa ilang textbooks, sunod lang pud sila, wala sad jud pud naka correct sa ilang mga libro oi, saying that green is blue.. Tsk…tsk…tsk… Fascinating. Dumb and fascinating. Sa ato pana, bisan batang gamay makiglalalis jud nato kung atong ingnon nga green is blue, sila kay sunod lang kay mao man ingon sa ilang maestra. Tsk..tsk..tsk..
touching. you are such a sweet person. will someone please turn the red lights on in the office? i need a breather!!!
i like this… it makes me ponder deeper and hit my car brakes harder…
Hello Padre Bobby! So inteligently stated nimo ang
“need to pause for a while so that others may not be hindered on continuing their journeys in life”. Ahhhh, yes! Very true indeed. I’m thinking i must have hit the brakes one time ago and saw a life similarly to what it is like at present… as if i knew then i would be on a track as right as this one now. Thanks so much Father, you are trully an inspiration!