What to Do When Things Come to a Stop

The drive home last night was quite the adventure. It took two hours to cover 10.5 miles that would normally take 15 or maybe even 20 minutes depending on the traffic. I inched along through a torrential downpour behind hundreds of other distressed motorists. In quite a number of places we went through fast moving water that was six inches deep or deeper. We had to wait for oncoming traffic to clear so we could drive up the wrong side of the road to avoid the deepest parts of these temporary streams. After about an hour of this I reached the turnoff to my little town. The police were blocking the road. I went up to the next cutoff and turned onto the road home. Where I entered the road the water was probably deeper than was appropriate for my automobile, but I made it. Then things were much better until I was about ¼ of a mile from town. Once again the police were blocking the road. Everything came to a dead stop. We all turned off our cars. When the rain let up we would get out of our cars and exchange information and rumors. Then when the rain started up again we would scurry back to the shelter of our vehicles. After about an hour of this the police began to let cars through the water that was now about six inches deep.

Most everyone was in pretty good spirits. I believe if we had some beer and barbeque we could have had a party. Together we devised potential methods for avoiding the police barricades. Then someone called the nearest police station on their cell phone and we discovered all the roads into my little town were temporarily closed by local flooding. A few people were angry, wanting to blame someone for their inconvenience. Others were frightened by the prospect of spending the night out on the road. Generally the good cheer of the majority calmed the angry and comforted the frightened. One driver, sputtering with rage, turned his car around and headed back up the road into more flooding.

Sometimes your plans just come to halt, then what? In this case, when the rain let up, I talked to my neighbors, not something I do very often. Then when the rain returned I scurried back to my comfortable car and listened to peaceful “massage music” on XM radio. Things could be worse. Accepting the truth of where you are in the present moment with equanimity is a good first step on the road to freedom.

Like the one enraged driver that headed off back into more flooding, we could shake our fist at God or blame the police for our problems. Really it is pretty easy to forgive the police for keeping us from harming ourselves. Sometimes in life forgiving others for what they have done is hard, but it is the beginning of wisdom.

In such situations, extending compassion to others is pretty easy and natural. Sharing information and just listening to others worry makes everything better for everybody. Can you extend compassion in other instances where your best just isn’t working? In such situations, can you extend compassion to your own fears and anger? Compassion can be hard work, particularly extending compassion to your self.

I could have been envious of those who started the trek early enough to make it home safely before the police closed the roads, but what sense would that make? It didn’t occur to me to think envious thoughts about those who through foresight or luck reached a goal that was, for the moment, beyond my reach. Why do we spend so much time and effort envying the success or gifts of others? Wouldn’t it make more sense to smile at the happiness of others, and pray that we too might be blessed even as we bless others?

Of course there are applications here for other, more important, life issues. The road home always begins with the heart.