The World Through the Eyes of a Teen

 

As a child, I had a taste for historical serials, depicting the medieval ages. There’s a crossing near where I live, which was on one of the roads we used the most whenever we went somewhere. The trains passed a lot, and I would jump in excitement inside the car, my tiny brain stunned by a vehicle so long and fast, and overjoyed by the sound of its whistle. At the same time, I would notice people trying to make their way past the crossing, risking getting hurt, only to save a minute or two. And then, as soon as the train would pass, and the crossing would open, the people would drive the vehicles as fast as possible as if their life depended on it.

It reminded me of when I saw medieval wars on television. The soldiers waiting for their commander’s word to fight their enemy. The people would start their engines, right before the crossing’s opened, as if preparing their weapons, and as if the commander has said “Attack!”, they would break out like a whole line of warriors. Except the warriors fought for something more literal and meaningful than time. People said time is money, however, money isn’t literal; it’s a mere way to get through life, and life’s something that one should enjoy, not ‘get through’.

The sight of people, waiting impatiently for the crossing to open terrified me. It seemed as though they would kill if another second of their time would be wasted. A couple days ago, I was passing a signal, when I saw the people waiting for their side to open, turning on their engines and it reminded me of how the young me used to think when the same happened at the crossing. Chuckling at the memory, I corrected my younger self. They weren’t like soldiers, they were like dispersed wolves, ready to tear down anything that came in their way. And it still terrified me.

~Janushi Raichura

Author of eight books