IT happened this morning. I was riding in the car with my son who was in the process of having his driver’s license upgraded from non-pro to professional when fate with its simple twists, appeared to play a prank on the poor innocent guy. Already a few minutes delayed in our departure, we had wanted to be early at the transportation office so that he could take the scheduled exam for the new license. In so many words, we were hurrying.
You know what they say about Murphy’s Law, if anything can go wrong, they will. While at a busy intersection at the diversion road, he failed to beat the yellow light and was promptly ordered by a traffic cop to pull over. As he was given a written reprimand for careless driving, I could sense from the hint of a smile on the copper’s face the irony of my son’s reason for speeding. (luckily for him, it only merited a small fine plus a necessary appearance later in the day at the barangay center. As such, being a minor offense, the cop said it need not reflect on his record at the transportation office, for as long as he paid the fine and reported to the barangay.
Interestingly enough, the words of his kindergarten and first mentor, late Teacher Detty played vividly in my mind. “Ang nagmamadali, nagkakamali.” (One who hurries, makes mistakes.)
As expected, his reason for being in a hurry bordered around arriving on time for the test, because only the first 60 people were allowed per session and we wanted to be among the first.
I said, for me, adhering to road rules and not being distracted from the first task at hand were way more important than hurrying for any darn exam. For all we know, someone might have gotten hurt had things turned out differently.
I likewise told him (in sermon mode now) that to go around the system, just to be able to do something else, will only invite a certain degree of reckoning. Then, as the traffic rule system goes, the traffic cop is an integral part that will be there to enforce it. So paciencia hijo, paciencia.
Upon our reaching the test building, a large group of people had already arrived ahead of us, with the majority present for the said exams. Here, subjected to the hassles of waiting in line for almost five hours sans a semblance of social distancing and then to endure the noontime heat; all happening before the actual test, is (no other words for it) suffering. What additional words of wisdom for my son on all these? Endure and more patience.
Mad Magazine’s mascot, Alfred Neumann might have said it tritely, What me worry? However, grin and bear it, close to patience, might be more like it.
