ARE WE THERE YET?

I am not really fond of kids but my five year old nephew is an exception to the rule. 

His name is Banjoe and we often call him ‘Jab’. He is not an average kid because he has a very beautiful mind. His advanced intellectual prowess, language development, extensive vocabulary, strong memory and unusual reasoning power never fail to amaze me. He can also talk about such complex issues as ethics, morality and religion. 

The other day while we were heading to get to the church, Jab asked about why is there traffic? This question was apparently followed by probably one of the most irritating questions “are we there yet?” Though I am not yet a mom, parents of small children will agree with me that sometimes the incessant ‘why?’ questions kids ask drive us nuts. So I decided to ask him and see what drives Jab to ask these questions time after time when going to the church or somewhere else? 

Me: Jab, why do you keep on asking questions, “why is there traffic” and “are we there yet”?

Jab: Are you angry at me?

Me: No, just asking.

Jab: I asked because … ummm… we are always taking this way. There must be other way around… ummm… I just don’t want to miss my Sunday school because my teacher said that we would have fun today.

Me: so what way are we going to take then?

Jab: The small road near the cemetery. We took that road last Sunday. It is less crowded there. 

Appalled and humbled by his reasoning, his way of thinking, his passion; curiosity and desire to take different route to accomplish something completely blown me away. 

I learned a great deal from this situation. As irritating as it may seem, sometimes we need to ask this question to ourselves every once in a while. The question ‘are we there yet?’ could be a metaphor for evaluating and assessing our progress on the project we wanted to get done or goals we wanted to reach, the passion we wanted to pursue or the dream we wanted to fulfill. We all have desires and dreams but how exactly are we going to get there is the question that you and I need to probe deeper. We need a plan. This may involve getting out our comfort zone, taking a different route or a different approach and making it work with the right choices.  Just like what an old proverb says, ‘A dream without action is just a wish”.

So, are we there yet?