As my senior year is coming to a close, my last few pieces will focus on bringing the senior class together with what we can do together. However, before I go into what we can do, I have to detail a story that took place this past week.
Recently, I was traveling through New Jersey to visit family via bus. On the way back, all of a sudden, the bus screeched to a halt in the middle of a five-lane highway. The driver exited his seat and left the bus. The entirety of the bus was focused on the right lane directly adjacent to our middle lane. There was a stopped car flashing hazard lights, with possibly an engine break or just out of gas, holding some of the traffic behind it.
The driver of the bus approached the driver’s side window of the seemingly parked car. As they began to talk, the drivers honking at them became more and more frequent. The bus driver ended the conversation with the driver of the car. Approaching the furthest lane from the bus and closest to the side of the road, he began to wave his hands as he sprinted into this rightmost lane and halted their traffic as well.
The bus driver continued to have his hands holding up all of the traffic on the right side of the packed evening highway. He approached the rear of the broken-down car and pushed it across the lanes of traffic he was holding up to the side of the road. Impatient drivers immediately continued their drive as soon as the heroic bus driver pushed the car across to the side of the road.
After making sure the driver was alright, he sprinted across the highway in between speeding cars back to our bus. He hopped right back in the driver’s seat, receiving a large round of applause from the whole packed bus.
What does this story tell me? Well, it tells me about the importance of caring for others even though you need to do your job. Look, it could have been any single person on that highway, or any of those that drove around the impaired car, who thought the most important thing was where they needed to be. Instead, a bus driver with the responsibility of an entire cramped bus on his shoulders stopped what he was doing to not only make traffic easier, but to possibly prevent an eventual accident.
It’s the same with us seniors. We will graduate from Stevens, and we still have the next chapter. However, that chapter won’t be effective unless we are patient with ourselves and with those around us. In moments, we must realize that we not only control our own personal journey, but also that we have the power to help others continue their journey even when they are stuck.
You can leave here knowing that your journey after Stevens is the most important objective to keep in mind. However, we are all in this together. We won’t be able to get anywhere without any help along the way. Additionally, no one will get anywhere without your help.
Keep in touch with the people that you know. Ask if they need a hand to get through the obstacle that stands in their way. At the same time, when you go through something, they will be there as well. Let’s just channel our inner bus driver!
