蜜芽传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Mariama Ifode-Blease.

Good morning.

A few months ago, I found myself in a yellow taxi in New York City, going, hurriedly, from one meeting to another. I was in the city with colleagues learning more about, and building a partnership with, a church there, through my role as priest at a London church. It was great to be back in a city I loved, and where I had lived in my twenties.

When we got to a busy part of town, a place called Columbus Circle, my taxi driver swerved into the correct lane, only then to hear a very loud horn from behind. The next thing I know, my taxi driver has stopped, and the driver from the car behind was by the taxi driver鈥檚 window. Apparently, my taxi driver had cut in front of him. On an already warm spring day, the temperature was suddenly increasing. Both drivers ended up in the middle of the road, shouting at each other. I had a front row seat as the road rage unfolded.

How and when to intervene, can be a challenging question for us. As humans, we are social animals, having evolved to survive within an environment that is inhabited by others. It can be important, to hold on to the fact, that how others react, respond, and behave, can often be out of our control. We cannot always intervene to make things better. We also cannot always ignore and shut our eyes, in the hope that a situation will disappear.

So today, I pray for the courage and wisdom, to know if and when to intervene, and how.

Amen.