Reflection on the Go

Driving or traveling, especially during a heavy traffic (or if it's raining), brings out a lot of insights in most people. I don't know about you guys but sometimes, I want to bring my laptop and type while on the car.

There's a lot of stuff happening outside. The MMDA giving a ticket to someone (who is being bribed in return), the taxi who almost hit you, the sampaguita vendor making limos, the traffic-less bus lane (!)...

But besides those stuff, you sometimes think about the relationship you could have saved if you were only more understanding and giving, regrets, your life after college, what lies ahead - the unknown.

A friend and I were driving along Ortigas earlier and the conversation got interesting. There were a lot of what if's. What if we were born at another place, let's say in Great Britain, a son of the Queen; or in Bangladesh, a son of a garment factory worker. What if we were born on another time - during world war 2 or in the future, a century from now.

It may be in driving or traveling that you are capable of giving out good insights, not directly of course to what you see around you. Somehow, we are less preoccupied, more alone and that may be the only time wherein we can reflect on what we have and will be doing.

Reflection is indeed a sign of a learned man. Few people can reflect. Few men are learned. I admire people who go to their roofs every available weekend and just stare at the stars, with no intention of arriving at a specific insight or thought. I guess it just happens once you get a hang of it. And in my case, I am most of the time humbled by my own insight.

Earlier this weekend, I was asking the president of Happy Earth of a lot of information regarding a conference I will have with some reps from Europe. I don't have a single clue on what to talk and what to contribute. She simply replied:

"Do not worry about not having enough info. The universe provides all that you need."

I just realized that she's not too lazy to think of answers for me. The universe indeed provides us with all the answers. Just stare at the star-lit sky and think. It had provided the Greeks, Chinese and Egyptians before, and it has continued even up to know.

Amidst the traffic, hustle and bustle of the city life, the universe still stirs us in the silence of our cars. You just have to listed to it, and bringing someone sensible with you to talk about it won't hurt either.