On my running route, there is this red light junction. At times that red light takes forever to turn green. On most days,  I am all by myself,  but sometimes I have company.  Young kids, heading to school, or their morning football class, or perhaps an early morning music lesson.

When I am all by myself, I look left and then right and then make a dash and cross the road. There are very few cars on the road at 6:45am in the morning and I take a calculated risk.

But when I have company, I resist the temptation to make that dash. I wait with the kids. We often exchange sideways glance, and sometimes a smile. At that moment,  I assume a role of a mentor at that red light junction. My mentee being the kid I am standing next to. I become conscious of my actions and their impact on the child next to me.

If I make a dash, chances are the kid will too. And he/she will learn the wrong lesson. I might be able to save them if there is an accident. But what if they take the same risk when I am not there. So I stop. I wait no matter how long the damn light takes to turn green.

As I raise my own child in this world where I will increasingly lose control of her environment, I don’t want her to learn the wrong lessons from irresponsible adults around her. Unfortunately, there is very little I can do. But I can act responsibly myself. And hope for karma to do its bit.