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For a moment, I was impressed by this matatu Sacco for lowering their prices (a rarety in Kenya’s transport sector)

But it didn’t take me long to notice the personal struggles the driver was going through.

On nearing my destination, a small altercation ensued between him and a motorcycle rider.

The disagreement was that our driver had swerved infront of his motorcycle nearly hitting him.

All this was happening in the midst of a mini jam.

But once vehicles were on the move, the irate motorcyclist swerved infront of us while gesturing angrily at the driver.

On the other hand, our driver stuck out his hand angrily counter-accusing the cyclist.

None was willing to let go.

However, the heated back and forth was cut short by free flowing traffic.

Now our driver would concentrate on getting us safely to our destination…

Or so I thought…

A few hundred metres ahead, and he was at it again.

This time, he was trying to overtake an overspeeding vehicle on a two way traffic lane.

The more he pressed on the gas, the more the other driver sped off.

For once, a few of us raised our voices to air our displeasure.

But for a moment I thought to myself about the battles we face everyday.

I thought about our driver and imagined probably he might be having family struggles…or financial struggles…or health struggles etc.

Sure enough, most of us are stressed with life issues.

And these life stresses may lead us to take out our frustrations on others.

But it pays to remember two things:

First, each and every one of us is fighting a battle we know nothing about.

Therefore it pays to be kind to others.

Ever walked along the street and bumped into another person while in a hurry?

What’s your response?

Being kind to another person helps them to be kind in return.

Being kind to another person shows them that you care.

Now back to my ‘street bumping story’…

I have two options at my disposal.

I could return a harsh word

or…

I could stop and say that I am sorry.

The second options sounds out of this world but it’s the most effective.

But remember that I talked about 2 things with the first one being kindness.

The second thing is choosing your battles.

At times, we are expected to fight back.

Because there are so many issues calling for our attention, we must choose what to engage in.

But there are battles that don’t give us any other choice but to fight back.

Battles involving…

Our children…

Our families…

Our spirituality…

Our ideals.

These are things we must fight for.

So let’s conserve our energies and choose our battles wisely.

There are times we need to rise up to the occasion and spend every ounce of energy in defending what is dear to us.

But also there are those times we just need to let go.

Life will be better that way.