Checkpoint

On the way home the other night, I joined the cue of motorists stopped to present our vehicle registration papers and drivers' licenses.

The first thing I noticed was that the checkpoint was established in a well-lighted portion of the road unlike the previous checkpoints of the past month. This was the 5th checkpoint experience to date and the next improvement was the courteous police officer explaining that a snatching had incurred and the checkpoint was established to hopefully cordon the perpetrators within the city. Finding the documents in order the officer returned the papers and apologized for the inconvenience.

The apology was another improvement, which made me smile and return the courtesy. I also noticed that the number of apprehended vehicles found to be insufficiently documented was far fewer than those of the previous occasions.

While continuing the drive home, the checkpoint got me thinking about the various checkpoints in our life when we need to stop and evaluate direction, speed, fuel, purpose and the other important (so we think) matters that concern and/or makes us busy.

This got me thinking after viewing the number of motorists who had stopped a distance from the checkpoint for their own reasons not to undergo inspection. In a way, the checkpoint has its purpose and presents the opportunity toward betterment. During the previous times when I had to stop to present the documents,

I had the opportunity to observe others who reacted angrily to the inspection. Obviously, the choice to submit oneself to duly constituted authorities is a hard decision, in my opinion, especially when one knows he or she is guilty of an error, negligent towards a requirement, and more so when one's pride is pricked.

We all have daily checkpoints and it is in being conscious of our violations, mistakes and errors that we have the opportunity to willingly submit to the penalty due us, or correct and learn from our mistakes. Let us do well in our checkpoints or we may end up like the man in this story.

A man got a job as a night watchman at a factory. There had been a lot of thefts by the workers on the night shift and so every morning when the night shift workers passed through his gate it was his job to check their bags and pockets to make sure that nothing was being stolen. Things were going along very well the first night on the job until a man pushing a wheelbarrow of newspapers came through his gate.

Aha, he thought, that man thinks he can cover up what he is stealing with that newspaper. So he removed the paper only to find nothing. Still he felt that the man was acting strangely, so he questioned him about the paper. "I get a little extra money from newspapers I recycle, so I go into the lunchroom and pick up all the ones people have thrown away."

The guard let him pass but decided to keep a close eye on him. The next night it was the same, and the night after that. Week after week it went on. The same guy would push the wheelbarrow of newspapers past the guard's checkpoint. The guard would always check and find nothing. Then one night, about a year later, the guard reported for work only to find a message had been left for him telling him to report to his supervisor. He walked into the supervisor's office and before he could say a word, the boss said, "You're fired!" "Fired?" he asked in total surprise.

"Why? What did I do?" "It was your job to make sure that no one stole anything from this plant and you have failed. So you're fired." "Wait a minute, what do you mean failed. Nobody ever stole anything from this place while I was on guard." "Oh, really," the boss answered. "Then how do you account for the fact that there are 365 missing wheelbarrows?"*