Very touching to start everyone's day : Cab ride
>
> Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. When I arrived at 2:30 am
>
> the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor
> window.
> Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice,
> wait
> a minute, and then drive away.
>
> But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as
> their
> only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I
> always
> went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my
> assistance, I
> reasoned to myself.
>
> So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute," answered a frail
> elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
> After
> a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before
> me.
> She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on
> it,
> like somebody out of a 1940s movie.
>
> By her side was a small nylon suitcase The apartment looked as if no one
> had
> lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
>
> There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the
> counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and
> glassware.
>
> "Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase
> to
> the cab, then returned to assist the woman.
>
> She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
>
> She kept thanking me for my kindness.
>
> "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I
>
> would want my mother treated."
>
> "Oh, you're such a good boy," she said.
>
> When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could
> you
> drive through downtown?"
>
> "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.
>
> "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a
> hospice."
>
> I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening.
>
> "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don t
> have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
>
> "What route would you like me to take?" I asked.
>
> For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the
> building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.
>
> We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived
> when
> they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture
> warehouse
> that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
>
> Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or
> corner
> and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
>
> As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said,
> I'm
> tired. Let's go now"
>
> We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
>
> It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway
> that
> passed under a portico.
>
> Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were
> solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been
> expecting her.
>
> I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman
> was
> already seated in a wheelchair.
>
> "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.
>
> "Nothing," I said "You have to make a living," she answered.
>
> "There are other passengers," I responded.
>
> Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me
> tightly.
>
> "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you.
>
> I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.
>
> Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.
>
> I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift.. I drove aimlessly lost
> in
> thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.
>
> What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient
> to
> end his shift?
>
> What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven
> away?
>
> On a quick review, I don't think that Ihave done anything more important
> in
> my life.
>
> We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments
> But
> great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others
> may
> consider a smal
>
> PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID,
> ~BUT~THEY
> WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
> But, you might help make the world a little kinder and more
> compassionate by
> sending it to friends who really do cares that makes others Life feel Wonderful.....
>
> Thank you, my friend...
>
> Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might
> as
> well dance.

Ricochet

That was very touching, it almost brought a tear to my eye, but obviously not because I'm too macho for emotions and $hit... no seriously

I remember when i was 14 I had this job as a delivery boy for a chemist, and every friday I had a delivery routine where I'd go around to all the elderly people in the area to deliver their weeks worth of medicine.

On my first Friday, I met this old lady, her name was Mrs. Brain, seriously. But she was so nice, and some how she knew the job was new to me, probably because she hadn't seen my before.

we talked for an hour, she told me about her grandchildren, and how her daughter visited the twin towers a day before 9/11. And a whole heap of stuff. We really bonded, and myself not having met my grand parents, kinda used her to replace them.

Then I left. each week would go by I'd get new names to the list, but Mrs Brain's name never came up again. About 6 months later I asked what had happened to her, and my employer told me she had passed away in a nursing home about week after my first friday delivery.

Ever since I've talked to elderly people, and believe me it can be tedious at times, and then in a few months I'd recieve news of them departing. Some are still alive. But at their age its so uncertain as to when they just 'disappear'

All of them have given some similar kinda of advice, and that is . Live as young as you can for as long as you can. Because life is just so quick, and cherish everything you have. I know its all abit Blind Optimistic, But for these old people, thats all they've got. Their friends have all slowly deceased, and their family have their own things to be concerned about. Alot of these elderly people spend most of their time remenicing their past.

Its really sad, this whole aging thing

anyway, nice post. its really touched me and stopped me to think about it all.

well hey, when you're dead..theres no more perception
might as well take it all in right now...right lah??
wheres my movie popcorn

I bet that wasn't an NTUC Comfort cab driver!!!!!! -evil

hehehe....

that was a touching story indeed...

but I thought the cab driver was gonna find out that she was a pontianak or something....haha.....