"Karma moves in two directions. If we act virtuously, the seed we
plant will result in happiness. If we act non-virtuously, suffering results."
Sakyong Mipham
I often find myself
among the masses of morning commuters in London, completely agitated by those
who don't know where they are going, those who walk slower than I do, those who
weave unnecessarily blocking the only clear pathway through the crowd of tens
and counting. I also often find myself sniggering when something goes kaput on
the Victoria Line and you hear a communal hum of sighs from 80% of the people
in the carriage.
Today was no different.
Today I giggled quietly to myself in the corner when the
driver gave the announcement that would undoubtedly annoy hundreds ... "I
must apologise ladies and gentlemen but the train appears to have over-shot the
platform and now I can't open the doors". There are two things that made
me laugh about this statement - firstly, no the train did not over shoot the
platform, the driver was going to fast and could not stop the train in time.
Secondly, there were a lot of unhappy moans and groans the minute people were
told that the doors would not open at King's Cross. It's strange that everyone understands
the unspoken meaning behind the words of the driver - all it takes is for
people to read between the lines. What he really meant was, "in order for
customers to leave the train, we would have to go forward to Euston".
Well, that situation was fine for me. Yes, it may have meant
that I quickly needed to develop sharp elbows to stop myself from being pushed
around by far more than the average traffic of bodies that pass through Euston
at 8.30am (especially those much taller than me), but I knew that when I got to
Euston I would be on the home straight and regardless of the minor
inconvenience on my way to work I would manage to get to my course on time (the
ultimate goal of today).
How wrong was I?
After being stuck underground on a sweltering hot and stationary train
for 10 minutes at King's Cross, the driver gave another
announcement. "Hello again ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately this train
has now become defective and we will attempt to get one door in each carriage
open. You will have to change here and find an alternative route" - well I
guess that was Karma. For laughing at the small misfortunes of others, I too
had to find an alternative route.
My alternative probably only added on an extra five minutes
to my journey, not bad going really. Hop on the Northern Line at King's Cross
to High Barnet and make an extra change at Euston to head towards Edgware - at
least I avoided what had become a severe delay on the Victoria Line for the
sake of one stop.
Moral of the story - no matter how insignificant, don't
laugh at the misfortune of others.
FYI - I made it on time (with 15 minutes to spare) for my
course.
Over and out. Weez
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