Traffic Jam. Lesson Learned

Have you ever stuck in traffic jam for 7 horrible hours? I have. As I recalled it was during flood season when I was driving my car on the way to work, for me the experience was unbelievably traumatic. As well as many people often struggle to deal with an unavoidable Jakarta’s traffic jam, which is commonly at the peak of its hectic hours in the morning and after working-hours. Waiting in traffic jam is frustrating and stress producing, the experience is tormenting either driving alone or with a driver. Nothing could possibly be worse than Jakarta’s traffic jam. And we have to deal with it in every single day.

I love living in Jakarta, this dynamic urban city offers hope, opportunity, and challenge for people that try to make a living here. Jakarta has been recognizes to be one of the largest city in the world, and its vast development has made many Jakartans feels proud. With its wide roads, ring roads, toll roads, and the latest is busway, should make traveling in Jakarta easier and accessible. How ever, as one of the most populous cities in the world, the city layout is chaotic and totally bewildering, Jakarta’s traffic has been notorious for its perpetual grid-lock, the traffic is indisputably the worst in South-East Asia with horrendous traffic jams slowing the city to a crawl during rush hour.

While waiting in traffic jam, try to look outside of your car window, and view the car or the motorcycle near you, you will actually find some people with tight faces ready to do combat to reach their destination. The waiting experience is exhausting and drained you physically and emotionally. And to make the experience even worst are the behavior of buses and angkot that rudely cut off your line, the new king of the road are motorcycles, they comes with incredible force as a unit, undoubtedly will drive you crazy. You should have some extra-ordinary driving skills in able to survive in Jakarta’s traffic.

How ever, despite all the ugliness of Jakarta’s traffic, I simply admire the resilient of Jakarta’s resident to keep on driving their vehicles every day in one of most chaotic and unorganized roads in the world. How they could manage to wake up every morning and drive into the madness of perpetual traffic jam. Then after a long tiring day at work, they have to face another battle of long hours stuck in the same traffic jam, again. Or did you ever notice those people that traveled with bus or angkot, they do not have the luxury of air conditioner or comfortable seat, most of the times the bus is too crowded and do not have enough space so many passengers must endure hours of standing in the bus. Their ability to survive in one of the toughest traffic jam in the world, Jakarta’s residents should be given a trophy.

Traffic jam is like a ground test for human character, it tested your resilience, your strength of endurance and it tested your patience. Those valuable experiences are priceless. You will be utterly amazed how small things can really teach you great lessons.

Life in many mysterious ways, teach and test people, from lousy day at work, quarrel with spouse, or even being stuck miserably in traffic jam, it is the way you respond that matter most. Everything that happens in life creates lessons, lessons produces values, and values transforms character.