Am I traffic?

Are you late because of traffic or because you are traffic?

I read this last week and stopped dead in my tracks. A subtle level of recognition of responsibility, which, when spoken, removes our entangled connection to being a victim. And we are constantly, usually without realising, occupying the territory of victimhood. (Where we place the blame outside of ourselves.)

Am I traffic?

There is a well-known saying…”If you are not part of the solution, you must be part of the problem.”

How about…if you are not part of the problem, then you cannot be part of the solution? But to admit we are part of the problem creates a higher level of responsibility than most of us are willing to consider. Far easier to have the problem be ‘over there.’

How would our perspective change if we named ourselves part of the problem? Not to become a victim, but to liberate ourselves from victimhood? For that is what happens when we take true responsibility. The death of our own victim status enables the highest form of liberation.

Think of all the problems you are currently working on. Where are you in them? Central? Peripheral? Or far removed?

Am I traffic?

Am I dysfunctional relationship? (What part of me is dysfunctional in my relationships?)

Am I income disparity? (What part of me exploits others?)

Am I war? (Where am I fighting to be the winner against the loser?)

Am I climate antagonistic? (Where do I pollute, waste and toxify?)

Am I refugee, asylum seeker? (Where am I lost and seeking home? Which part of me seeks refuge?)

Where we locate ourselves in the geometry of a problem matters to the solution being comprehensive and untainted by saviour heroics.

Written November 1st 2016

Photo July 16th 2025, Article republished July 16th 2025