In the early afternoon hours I was calmly walking to the station for the intercity bus. I noticed a man running with all his might to catch a bus that was standing in the station. When he reached the bus, the doors were closed and the bus had started rolling into the street. All his attempts to get the bus driver to open the doors were for naught. His pounding and shouting did not help, the driver simply decided to block him out and continue on his way. When I reached the bus stop I found him angry and frustrated beyond words and he was burning up as if he was literally on fire. His friend – an older man who arrived at the bus stop within a few minutes found him cursing and swearing; cursing the bus driver and the bus company and everyone else he could think of.
After the older gentleman heard what had happened, he said “I heard that you are angrily cursing because you were late for the bus and because you will be late for an important meeting. Tell me the truth – in the fifty times that you arrived and boarded the bus on time did you ever raise your head to Heaven and say ‘Thank You’?”
A sweet silence filled the air when the question reached his ears with the sharp rebuke. After a few minutes, he calmed down and he said “You are right! But I am angry not only because I will be late to the meeting but because the driver could have opened the doors but he chose not to.”
To this the older gentleman replied “Everything is supervised from Above and you have to give thanks for the bad just as you would for the good!”
The man, who had cooled off from his anger agreed with these words of wisdom. Just then a car stopped in the station and asked for directions exactly to the place the man had to go to. The driver gladly took him along.
The whole time I stood on the side pretending to be reading a book. I got on the arriving bus with and as we were traveling, I noticed the earlier bus standing on the side of the road because something had happened to it. Some of the passengers were getting on the bus in which I was sitting.
It became clear how everything is for the best for had then man gotten on the previous bus he surely would have been late for his meeting. Since he did not get on the bus but took the ride in the car he was able to get to his meeting on time!
