Traffic Jam Beauty

Stuck in a traffic jam on the freeway, I inch through the winter night. I don’t want to be here. Tired after a long day, I only want to be home. Is there any way to feel vibrantly alive in a traffic jam?

A red river of brake lights stretch ahead as far as I can see. Across the freeway, a white river of oncoming headlights streams toward me. All the lights shine on the wet road and dance in the rain, as luminous and atmospheric as a Turner painting. All these people in all these cars are coming and going like the endless river of life.

None of them want to be stuck in this traffic jam either. They all want to be somewhere else, too. Or do they? Maybe in one of these cars, two people soon to part are given an extra hour together. Maybe a man listening to music will think of some wonderful new idea. Or a woman listening to an audio book has an insight that will change her life.

The traffic jam turns beautiful. And suddenly, I don’t want to be anywhere else.