DO THE RIGHT THING! AT ANY COST!

It was a hectic day at work. I was dazed when I looked at my watch showing the time, 9pm.  "Time to go home" I told myself not just because it was late but also because I was done for the day. While I pulled my car out of the parking and zoomed out of the office, I felt there was a nice feeling of accomplishment that helped me overcome the tiredness that the day’s work had caused to me. After getting out of the main gate of the software park and then sliding by the roads I merged into the national highway that I normally take on my way home to beat the city traffic and have a smooth drive.

Normally at this time of the evening there would be few cars on the road and almost double the number of two wheelers. So, traffic would normally be free flow.  Expecting the traffic to be less and hoping to reach home fast I was zipping through my way only to be surprised. While I almost reached the end of the highway where I need to take an over bridge to get back into the city, I saw the traffic slowing down and almost getting jammed as I got closer to the bridge. I recollected that there used to be an ‘U’ turn just a few yards before the bridge and vehicles used to slow down creating a bottle neck. But that turn was blocked by a barricade a few days ago and since then the ride till this day has been smooth.

Wondering what could have happened I slowly moved my car near the bridge only to notice that someone had moved away the barricade to open the turn in an awkward way that not only opened the turn to block the traffic but was also blocking the traffic. Few cars were happily taking a turn because it was open and the other cars which were going straight were going around the barricade slowly creating the traffic mess. I am sure every driver that passing by was cursing the person who did this but did not do anything about it. Honestly when I was crossing that point, I was about to do the same just keep cursing and keep passing.

For a moment a flash of thought crossed my mind and I stopped the car, got down and moved the barricade to its original place with a grit that it is the right thing to do and with a satisfaction that I am doing something good. The man from the car that was following mine quickly jumped out and ran towards me. I was impressed with myself for inspiring someone to follow. Oops! The feeling didn’t last for long because he stopped me from the barricade. He also started yelling at me. And I realized that he wanted to take the turn and wanted to stop me from closing it. I was amazed by his act. Not only he was stopping me from doing the right thing but was also accusing me on top of his voice. I was in shock and was trying to recover and gather myself again and tried to explain him but in vain.

While the war of words was going on between us, I saw the driver of another car which was also following me jumped out and ran towards me. Without even observing what was happening he started delivering his share of words with extreme speed. Unfortunately, he thought I was the one who was interrupting the other man from putting the blockage back in place. The new guy just started off “It is because of guys like you our society is like this!”. And I was like “really? Do you even know what happened here? “ . Honestly, I did not know what to do in that situation as I could feel the adrenalin rush in me. I was pushing myself to slow down step back and think. “Respond! Don’t react!” I told myself.

Amidst all of this I did not miss to notice the guy who was standing by the side of the road and watching all this quietly. He was tall and hefty so none could miss him easily. “Oh My God! Here comes another one” I sighed looking at him walking towards us. Naturally I expected him to the join the clan gathered against me and have his share of fun. He gate crashed into the group pushing his way in and looked at the previous guy and said “Do not jump into action without understanding the actual context!” and then he looked at the first guy and bawled “You think you’re too smart? Just get into your car and go straight” and he did not even wait to hear their response and pulled the barricade to place it where it belonged, and I spontaneously and unconsciously gave him a helping hand to finish the task. All of us returned to our routine and went ahead in our directions.

That is quiet a big narration for a small incident.  So was the learning from the incident – BIG! How many times do we really step out of our routine or comfort zone to correct something that is wrong? How many times do we tell ourselves no matter what! I will do the right thing. There might be several occasions where we will be confronted by people who want to take short cuts in their lives, and they will accuse us being the wrong person interrupting their path. To make that worse they will be accompanied by people who don’t even the know the context and have no facts or information. Very rarely we would have someone stepping in to help us. Do we stay on course or do we give up? On that day I did not give up and I stood my ground. Believe me I could sleep peacefully that night with a great sense of accomplishment. That’s what standing up for the right thing can do to you, keep you at peace. That was my BIG learning – DO THE RIGHT THING AT ANY COST.

From then on, every day when I get close to the bridge, I used to look at the barricade and smile and it always appeared like it smiled back at me. One fine day I noticed that the blockage was moved again interrupting the traffic. Guess! What did I do? Stopped my car and jumped out!