So Teddi, bus driver for Bus R3 arrives back at the terminal, he is 39 mins early from his otherwise 4 hours bus route drive. He clocked in, rather than going straight home, he decided to relax in the common room for a few minutes, made himself a cup of coffee, grabbed the worn daily paper, with his feet up, he buried his head into his paper and drifted off into the stories. His supervisor came in, did a double take, did he just see Teddi or his eye sight failing him? Yes it was definitely Teddi! ‘Teddi is that you?’ He hola. ‘Yes, it’s me’ Teddi replied. From what he could see Teddi looked alright. Notwithstanding he thought to ask, ‘is everything okay?, are you alright?, any problem with the bus?’ Teddi confirmed that all was good, no problem whatsoever. Supervisor, scratching his head, asked ‘but you are back early?’ Without lifting his head from the paper, Teddi nodded in the affirmative and went on to explain. ‘I cut off from my route, the roads from Swann lane all the way to Elm road going round Worbeck Road, the whole area of Amherst woods I did not bother with, I have been driving this bus for 3 years and after 7pm there is never any one there, it is very dark and lonely on those route, I have saved myself time, the company fuel and the bus mileage’. What do you think the Supervisor did? Teddi was sacked on the spot!
The above is a fictional story, there is no Teddi and Bus R3 route has no bearing on this story. The point we are trying to make is that a bus driver can not just cut off parts of his route that he deems unviable. The route is set, it’s not his call. The point about certain parts of the route being deserted is a valid point, I see buses in my neck of the wood, plying some routes religiously, at certain times, there is no one and it is a solo drive for the bus driver, seemingly pointless. Our lives are the same, certain aspects of what we do seem pointless and we wonder why, why can’t we just cut off and arrive back early. Sometimes our whole existence seem pointless. Solomon, the wisest man accordingly to Scripture said it is vanity upon vanity. Do we then pack up and check into heaven, claiming we are done? Obviously not, we still have to finish our shift, drive through every aspect of our route, whether there are passengers or not. The fact of life is that some parts of the route will be populated others will be scanty and some will be solo drive. Different drivers, different buses, all with different routes. Some routes are full of buses with loads of passengers steaming in and out the entire length of the ride, other routes are short with few buses and hardly any passengers. Some routes are littered with bus stops and signs other routes have no bus stops, no signs such as rural areas, you just have to know where to stop and passengers know where to alight.
The journey of man is similar to the journey of the bus drivers. Whatever bus or route we get, our call and duty is to be focused and drive with diligences, people getting in or getting off is none of our business. Our job is to set our eyes like a flint and keep driving and at the end, when we finish our route there will be our remuneration. Some believe this, some don’t, but the best we can do, is give life our best shot and the earth we inhabit will bear us witness that we did not slack. Some have argued that our whole existence is just chasing our tails, and my response is that, then we will chase our tails with all the vigour that we have, for in the chase is our fulfilment and ability to experience the abundant life.
What Teddi did not know was that the day he cut short his route, was the one day when an elderly lady waited to board the bus to go and see her new born grandson, she was deprived of the opportunity and never got to see the new born.
Honour your route!
Beautiful Ivory 