A SURE SOLUTION
After reading the October 1986 issue of Al-Risala, a reader wrote a long letter (October 7, 1986). Part of it said: “Your travelogues are not only informative but also unique in style. This time too, your account of Bombay was the same. In it, I read your meeting with driver Hiralal and the answer he gave to your question about avoiding accidents. It reminded me of a similar story.”
A taxi driver, who had never had a single accident in his 55 years, once gave a lecture on safe driving. He said: “It takes me just a minute to explain how to drive safely. The method is very simple. While driving, just remember this—every other driver on the road is crazy.” (Muhiuddin Muhammad, Hyderabad)
A “crazy” person is one who cannot be relied upon, from whom nothing can be expected. When nothing can be expected from the other side, thinking in terms of mutual understanding is pointless. In such cases, the only way is to think one-sidedly and seek a one-sided solution. Everyone knows that you do not fight with a madman—you avoid him. The solution is to stay away, not to clash. The driver who assumes others are crazy will not waste time complaining about them. He will focus entirely on himself. Sometimes he will stop. Sometimes he will slow down or move aside to find his own way. A person on the road who places full responsibility on himself in this way will never meet with an accident.
That driver summed up the secret of life in a single phrase. In other words: do not expect anything from others. Take full responsibility yourself. Then you can be sure you will never face an accident.
What the driver said about avoiding accidents on the road also applies to avoiding accidents in life. You can be sure to avoid social accidents, provided you take one-sided responsibility upon yourself. The fact is, in today’s world, the most reliable solution to problems is the very one that driver practiced, which kept him completely safe throughout his long career.
In strict medical terms, perhaps only one percent of people in the world are truly insane. But in another sense, ninety-nine percent are potentially mad. Under normal conditions, they may appear fine. But when personal interest is involved, when their ego is hurt, when they are angered, or when they face someone they dislike, even a decent person can turn indecent. A sane person, too, can act insane.
Once, while traveling from Hyderabad to Mahbubnagar, I myself experienced a lesson. Our car was speeding down the road when suddenly an ox appeared. The driver did not complain about the ox, nor did he continue recklessly. He braked immediately, stopped for a moment, and observed where the ox was heading. Once it had crossed more than half the road and it was clear it was going east, the driver turned the car west, went around it, and continued on his way. The problems of life are always solved through one-sided action. Those who seek to resolve issues on the basis of mutual agreement will, in this present world, meet no fate other than to continue their futile protests until they depart from it.
