Each passing moment in life is a lecture period because something is learnt. The passing moments in trotro for me have been learning avenues and these I share with you all. In the opening paragraph of his second novel Fragments, one of the most controversial Ghanaian prose writers; Ayi Kwei Armah said “Each thing that goes away returns and nothing in the end is lost. The great friend throws all things apart and brings all things together again. That is the way everything goes and turns round. That is how all living things come back after long absences, and in the whole great world all things are living things. All that goes returns...” So the actions of our everyday life shall return to us. No wonder someone sung that “if you do good you do for yourself, if you do bad, you do for yourself.”
As an attaché at Metropolitan Insurance Company during the long vacation, I had the great chance to board trotro almost every day to and from work. My evening journeys proved to be the most challenging, as chocked traffic regulated the speedometers of the vehicles plying the roads and streets of Accra. More often than not, the drivers looked for short cuts in an attempt to get more passengers as well as get to their destinations earlier than anyone else. Some end up joining longer cues than the ones they left behind. It was very difficult too, to reverse and take the original route. They therefore end up, remaining in the traffic jam longer than they thought. In life’s journey, traffic jams are necessities. Patience is the only tool that can overcome it. Be patient and wait upon the Lord for your appointed time. “Success is sweet: the sweeter if long delayed and attained through manifold struggles and defeats”-A. Brandson Alcott. Please, no shortcuts to success in life. That success might come but you may not enjoy it because of your haste to grab it.
“A successful man is not selfish. His main desire in life is to serve humanity” Dr. Joseph Murphy. This saying is emphasized by the trotro driver. He (since I have not yet come across a “she” trotro driver) does his work for the continuous flow of the human daily work cycle. He drives people to and from work. He carries goods to Makola and all other markets for the working class especially in urban areas who don’t produce these goods to purchase and use. He does this with passion. He wakes up early in time to start work, goes through the hectic traffic jams till dusk and night. He knows that his actions and inactions will surely have tones of effects on him so he works hard for himself as well. The harder he works the more money he gets. “Your work will provide for your needs”-Psalm 128:2. This we must learn. The daily treks: room to lecture to Madina market to libraries to night market to Masses, are actions that have self building and time management effects on us. We are doing all these for ourselves so they must be done with passion and with no regrets.
“Do not judge others so that God will not judge you”- Mathew 6:1. Many a times, we engage in very hasty judgement of people who we think we are better than in a certain aspect of life. There was a conversation in a trotro on one of my experimental journeys from Adabraka to Kotobabi. An argument ensued. A passenger was uncomfortable with the people involved in the argument. He asked them whether they belong to a certain ethnic group because that ethnic group is a violent one. Unfortunately for her, she married from that ethnic group. The driver asked her to apologize and withdraw the statement. When she refused, she was given her fare and asked to board another trotro. There was shortage of cars at that time too. The ethnic background, level of education, social standing, financial guarantee and all those earthly new-fangled wealth are not supposed to make us judge people. All people are created equal and in the same image of the creator. In trotro, there are no separate seats for the social classes in it. All people mingle. Watch what you say about people. Those judgments might be reflections of you.
Be polite to all, loving all and with no discrimination. "Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.” -Blessed John Paul II. There are so many people on earth who need us each passing sun rise. There are many who are saying, deep in their souls, "I have searched for you, and now you have come to me, and I thank you."-Blessed John Paul II (soon before his death.) Trotro offers us the chance to touch a fellow man with a hand of relieve, to speak to a broken hearted with a voice of consolation, to offer a free warm smile to a tear soaked eye that may sit next to us. Each day, many of us waste this gift of mending the crunched spirits of the suffering. Trotro brings them more closely to us. They search for us, so when we come near them, let us do that duty for which God brought us nearer to them. The many bus tops of Accra are lined with the physically challenged. How much help have we offered them? Most drivers give these people some coins. These are concrete teaching and learning materials. In trotro we must talk to people, not as some mates do: shouting at us rudely. If they do that to us and it pained us, then we must not do it to others “do unto others what you want them do unto you.” May the precious gift of sharing a trotro lead us to touch more lives with God’s love.
Our world of suffering was not God’s desired design. We as, his children and heirs of his kingdom must put the world back into order. This we must do with the ultimate tool of true and unconditional love. Next time when you board a trotro, do something positively new in the life of the person sitting next to you. He or she needs you. That is why God made you sit by his/her side. If you have never had a trotro experience before, try it one of these days. You will enjoy the lessons Prof. Trotro Diver will allow you to learn for yourself. Enjoy your ride, trough another academic trotro.
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