The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget

I do not normally post reviews about books or articles I have read, but this time I'll make an exception. It's a Sunday morning, and one of my morning rituals is to browse through my reading list  of motivational blogs like ZenHabits and Thinksimplenow. I was browsing through the latter's list of past articles and The Cab Ride I'll Never Forget caught my eye. I remember reading it a few months back, but I couldn't recall the details of the story. So I read it again. A paragraph into the article and fat, large drops of tears were falling down my face. For various reasons, I guess. For the sad reality that there are some people who have nobody in this world, and some of these people are old and frail and could be anybody's grandmother or grandfather. For the sad realization that most of the time I let tiny frustrations ruin my day and I take it out on the people around me, and I end up being unkind and coarse and thoughtless, never realizing that other people are also silently facing their own battles. 

 (*sigh*) I still get teary-eyed thinking about the story. The story was told by the writer who spent some years as a cabdriver. There's a beautiful realization in this fact as well. To quote the author: 

"Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living.

It was a cowboy’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss.

What I didn’t realize was that it was also a ministry."

and as he neared the end of his story he said, 

"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 I have 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 small one."

I had placed myself in this mindset that you can only be great if you can do great things. And since only a few of use get to do that in our lifetimes, then we somehow must resign ourselves to the fact that our lives may never rise above the mediocre. But this story made me realize that great moments sometimes come cloaked in the guise of small ones, and the smallest deeds of kindness may be great to the one's receiving them. 

Happy Sunday everyone :)