A day in the life of a traffic light

8:00 am

Today I saw a little girl holding her mother's hand and trying to cross the road. I think she was going to school. It's a place where humans apparently go to get educated. I don't understand why humans are this ignorant about their safety if they go to school. I keep screaming at them in my red, green and yellow hues but they never listen. As I kept looking at the little one cross the road, I saw the yellow ribbon hanging from her braids. All of a sudden, I realised that I have seen this image before. My electric heart skipped a beat. I had a flashback from last week when three little girls in school uniform were trying to cross the street. They had yellow ribbons too. I was screaming at them in green. They didn't listen. They never listen. Now, every time that I look at the little ones in front of me, I am scared because I know what happens to the little ones when they are on the streets. I scream at them but they don't listen. They get hurt. I look at the bloodstains on their tiny hands and I feel like the most helpless object on earth.

3:30 pm

The sky is cloudy today. Things get messy when it rains.  Humans get anxious because traffic is intolerable. They get impatient and they forget to look at me screaming at them in red. I stand here and try to help even when there is a storm. I try to help them when the sun shines so brightly that they can't look up at the sky. They ignore me all the time. I don't get it. Why won't they let me help? They look at things around themselves all the time. They read the posters on the streets. I envy the posters. They look at the billboards down the streets. I envy the billboards. I don't get why they would look at static images of actors but not pay attention to my changing colours that try to save their lives every day.

12:30 am

I am still awake. Even when the streets are dark and the little man silently sleeps next to the dog and wonders if sleeping in a bed would feel the same as sleeping on top of the grass, I stay awake. Sometimes I wonder that if I crawled up beside that dog and let these humans be by themselves, would they care? Would they finally notice? I am worried about the little girl with the yellow ribbon. I wonder if she is still breathing. I wonder if I will see her tomorrow crossing this road.

Megha thinks it is important to give some attention to the traffic lights. Share your thoughts with her at megharahman26@gmail.com