I quickly jumped into the green and white bus the typical color of Abuja buses and squeezed my way to the back seat, I had to be fast because the rush for those buses was err...let's just say if you had to go to the office looking all nice and fresh then you probably would want to hire a taxi. A blend of body fragrances and a collage of facial expressions greeted my hurried entrance, they occupants of the vehicle just kept staring at me as i went behind and so i thought maybe it was because i was flamboyantly color rioting that morning plus the fact that I wasn't smelling my best (emptied my bottle of perfume the day before) and so today I was au naturale! unknown to me the joke was on me, i was the ignorant one, the unsuspecting victim!
Anyway I lodged myself somewhere and mentally calculated how much I would have left when I pay my fare, miraculously though the price was halved(incentive for my 'precious' life) The driver engaged the gear lever and much to my utter amazement the bus started moving backwards in reverse instead,then there was a sharp jolt and some murmuring and hissing from the passengers, I felt this was an honest mistake,cut the guy some slack, probably He had a rough night, I smiled about it until i realized the driver was struggling ferociously with the gear lever to engage it in drive for what seemed like eternity, I felt it was a mechanical hitch with the gear box, finally after much demonstration we got on our way and we began the journey, I noticed the bus kept swaying from left to right and left again and I scanned the faces of those around me wondering what to make of this anomaly,expecting somebody to say something to the driver, someone with the guts and appropriate breathe odor to come to our rescue, but nothing, no one said anything. Just then the driver shouted apologetically "abeg make una no vex oh! as i tell una,i sabi but no be well well, small time we go reach wuse". just then it dawned on me that the driver was a learner, a LEARNER! and every one else obviously knew about it and didn't complain at least not to my hearing.I was the only one that didn't get the memo. I wanted to revolt but my shy nature got the better of my mouth and as per usual I did the revolting in the hollows of my mind and so I said a silent prayer and thought happy thoughts.The passengers kept issuing instructions and warning, some of them even looked out for on-coming vehicles;it became a collective effort- driving the car. one man even helped the driver collect the fare, another told him when to turn and what not, it was a pitiable and embarrassing sight as the driver struggled endlessly amidst -his plea for understanding- to make sense of what he was doing or not doing.
I was jolted back to my heart-clenching reality when the bus driver unknowingly cut off another car around a bend almost causing a major accident and jolted a couple of times before we settled into our swaying motion amidst pleas by the more critical of us for the driver to be more observant, I felt like shouting at the young man to be more careful, then I remembered I only just got my license three months ago and I was in a similar fix back then, because I was still 'growing'. Throughout the journey we went from one close call to another near miss and then finally, finally! we arrived at the bus-stop; we all heaved a chorale sigh of relief and alighted.
Then the lesson of the whole episode dawned on me, the passengers were mainly elderly papa's and mama's (who probably had less to lose in the event of a mishap) who understood what it meant-Patience, Tolerance and Understanding-to encourage a learner to make room for growth, the driver like many of us needed all that and more, he needed room to improve on whatever driving skills he thought he possessed, it could be you in that level of growth, or in the position to tolerate the mistakes of freshers or learner's alike; at that point remember this story and play the part.
In the words of Mr. Plato-People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die. so choose ye those day which you shall be! that being said we all grow and learn everyday( i hope); help nurture that person or thing and someday hopefully you would look back at that almost frustrating experience of growing and laugh, even though i didn't see any thing to laugh about when my life or death was at stake!
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