PEDESTRIAN WAHALA

"Eeeeeiiiiii"
The sound was loud  to penetrate through the music from my earphones, and I stopped abruptly. I usually have earphones on to enjoy some tunes when I walk alone.

Quickly, I took the earphones off and turned to look around. Not only did people around have faces marked with concern, but some openly expressed their anger.
I wondered what was amiss so I took a quick look around and then my eyes finally settled on what seemed to be the problem.

To my left, across the street was a minivan with people gathering around it. Curiosity made me draw a bit nearer to inquire what the problem was. As I was getting closer, a woman yelled "as for these drivers, they are always on speed, only God knows where they are in a hurry to when life is just but one". Immediately, I realized it had almost been a tragedy, but the victim escaped by seconds.

As humans, our daily activities place us in various situations. You may be about crossing the road, and just when you think it is safe to cross, an "insane" driver just speeds past out of nowhere; or, you think you are safe where you are only for a driver to almost knock you and say you are in the way.

Drivers have all kinds of stickers or writings on the glasses of their cars. Some, inspirational quotes or maybe a niche carved due to one's experiences. Others are mostly stickers which come as a result of some form of "pledge" they have made.

There's this particular one I happen to come across mostly and paraphrased, it's just to say they will patiently wait for pedestrians to cross the road. But then again, I ask myself, do they really do this? Sometimes the speed a driver uses, not to exaggerate, but it's enough to make you develop an eye problem due to the dust he or she leaves behind.

It really baffles me to see that drivers cannot patiently wait for a maximum of 20 seconds for a pedestrian to cross the road. Should it be that the said pedestrian is handicapped, then, you'd have to exercise a bit more patience because after all, you never know what lies ahead of you.

I wonder what some make of the road signs with the time spent when learning to drive. Is it that they just memorize a few just for passing the exams? What then becomes the aftermath? Our side of the continent even has it that pedestrians have to rush to cross the road even when there is a road sign called "zebra crossing" and I find it quite interesting.

This brings the police who stand by the roadside to mind. Being an ardent user of public transport, there's been countless times when vehicles are stopped by the police only for God knows what. It's just about let me have a look at your license. If there's a denomination of our currency in it, you're made to drive off safely. But if there isn't, wahala for you. I dare say little or nothing is done about the over-speeding issue and it's really not safe for us. Whereas some people in the police service do their best per what is expected of them, some just stain the profession with corrupt deeds.

Someone might say he or she is in a hurry to get to his or her destination on time. Or to cut matters short, " I want to beat time".But let me ask again, can we ever beat time? What were you lazying about doing when the clock was ticking or is it that you lost track of time? Should a bit of reflection be done, one would realize that just when you think you want to "beat time", certain things just cross you and if care is not taken, you would mess up your day entirely.

There might be another "defense phrase" that it is an emergency. But then again, I ask, should you speed up and something unfortunate happens, would you be there to address the issue like you'd wish to?

There is this funny statement I hear people make that " when you're ready to learn how to drive, you should be ready to learn a few insults as well". Even though it is hilarious to an extent, that is what is being seen mostly. The human senses as heard from someone has to be on full display when one is behind the steering will.

A little patience for a pedestrian to cross the road won't hurt any nerve, I believe. But over-speeding or one's quest to rush to get to a destination does not guarantee your safety.

Sanity and Insanity

SANITY AGAINST INSANITY
Some routes we find ourselves using on daily basis makes us sometimes wonder what this whole world revolves around. The distance from the house to the workplace is not long so when I can, I choose to walk.

When in a car going to work, I prefer to look out of the windows of the car because I love the breeze that comes when the wind hits my face. Then again, I make mental notes of things I see along the road.

Amidst several things, one thing that strikes me as troubling to an extent is the presence of mentally retarded people on the streets. Sometimes, I just wonder what could possibly make them be on the streets. Is it that they have no family, or their place of solace is in the streets?

Sometimes, one could make assumptions but till you hear the side of the story from the victim, it's best not to make any conclusions.
But in this case, I get shaken when I bypass these manner of people so how do I approach them to ask them what the problem really is.

To satisfy my curiosity, I took to asking around and searching for seemingly likely answers to this.

To my dismay, I found out that mental illness as a thing, no exact cause or an agreed upon factor that breeds it. Conditions  however come about as a mixture of biological, physiological and environmental factors.

Some mental illnesses have been linked to an abnormal balance of special chemicals in the brain called Neurotransmitters. These help the nerve cells in the brain to communicate with each other and so when an interruption or balance fails, there comes a defect. To talk about this further, genetics, infections, brain defects, prenatal damages, poor nutrition and exposure to toxic substances make up the biological factors.
Moving to psychological,trauma(emotional, physical or social abuse), early loss, negligence and poor ability to relate well with others constitutes this.
Environmental has it that almost everything to do with one's location can alter one's way of thinking. And these range from social or cultural expectations right to family life.

Having found these, I find iy very disturbing when I some of these mentally retarded people acting sane sometimes. Aside the"jibbering words" which sometimes makes some sense, their way of life has a interesting turn out.

Inspite of they being mentally retarded, some, adhere to the "cleanliness ...." issue. They try to gather rubbish as they go along. Aside their appearance being questionable, they try to clean their surroundings and that I find very interesting.
When the women get pregnant, they tend to be very protective and this makes me realize that even though there is a hitch in their brains, they still go an extra mile just to protect their kids.

I decided to ask a psychiatric health worker as to why there seem to be too many mentally retarded people on the streets and not in the institutions? As said by her, people come in everyday with issues of the brain. When it's subtle, medicine is given to correct it and the person is asked to go home. However, if it's serious, the person has to be treated and observed for sometime in the health institutions.

Due to inadequate facilities, when a patient is seen as improving, a discharge has to be made to pave way for others with a caution being sounded to the guardians should administer the medicines as well as bring them back for constant check ups. This however is hardly done and so there is a zero work done making the patients take to the streets.

Inasmuch as it is burdensome to treat or care for someone with a mental disorder, it depends on the guardians to assist to make things better. The feeling of embarrassment is already noticed but will it lessen any bit when they take to the streets? If  a simple care can't be extended, will it be wrong to say the guardians to some extent are also mentally retarded?
Mishaps do happen but the way we go about it can make it look infinitesimal or enormous.