nepalese cab driver
Interesting story: I get into a cab to go home last night and I meet the first nepalese cab driver I have ever seen in this world. We started talking and I find out that he's been in this country for three years. He tells me that he works a full time job during the week but decided to take the day off because it was so nice out. And I asked, how he could be taking his day off if he is driving me home. He explains that driving a cab in boston is his second job because he needs to support his kids. However, he did also explain that driving a cab around boston during the day is just a nice way of getting out and enjoying himself.
With his day off, he decides to drive a cab for twelve hours but realistically he has to pay for his own gas, a sixty dollar fee to his cab company, with few people taking cabs on wednesdays. So by the end of the night he ends up only making fifty dollars. 50 dollars / 12 hours = 4.166 dollars an hr. He made me feel like an ungrateful bastard. It turns out that I was.
We start talking about asian immigrants and about how hard it is for some people to adapt to america. He says that they always forget how to enjoy themselves. He says if he sees a beautiful women, he will tell her that she is a beautiful women. He asks what is the harm in the telling the truth. If he is only making 4 dollars an hour, he might as well enjoy himself. He says that in this country, a man can work as hard as he needs to become successful. He says at home this is not possible, but people who live in this country will always take this freedom for granted.
We talk about how enjoying yourself in this country or your last may be different, but you have to find out how to make yourself happy. Since the actual feeling of happiness is the same in this country as it is in your childhood. You need to adapt and that is what most people forget how to do.
He just reminded me. Happiness is not an emotion, it is a perspective to the moment. And whose perspective is right? An ungrateful ivy league grad bored of his nine am reality or, an immigrant nepalese man driving a cab on his day off? To him, he found a wife, a Tibetian girl, whose father helped them immigrate into this country. To him, he has already won his lottery, but he does wonder why other people can't see that they've won this lottery as well.
Some days it feels as though I'm drifting through purgatory, and last night made me wake up, if only for a moment. Is either perspective more justified? Is either thought process less rational? No. they are the same, but it does feel better to smile.
With his day off, he decides to drive a cab for twelve hours but realistically he has to pay for his own gas, a sixty dollar fee to his cab company, with few people taking cabs on wednesdays. So by the end of the night he ends up only making fifty dollars. 50 dollars / 12 hours = 4.166 dollars an hr. He made me feel like an ungrateful bastard. It turns out that I was.
We start talking about asian immigrants and about how hard it is for some people to adapt to america. He says that they always forget how to enjoy themselves. He says if he sees a beautiful women, he will tell her that she is a beautiful women. He asks what is the harm in the telling the truth. If he is only making 4 dollars an hour, he might as well enjoy himself. He says that in this country, a man can work as hard as he needs to become successful. He says at home this is not possible, but people who live in this country will always take this freedom for granted.
We talk about how enjoying yourself in this country or your last may be different, but you have to find out how to make yourself happy. Since the actual feeling of happiness is the same in this country as it is in your childhood. You need to adapt and that is what most people forget how to do.
He just reminded me. Happiness is not an emotion, it is a perspective to the moment. And whose perspective is right? An ungrateful ivy league grad bored of his nine am reality or, an immigrant nepalese man driving a cab on his day off? To him, he found a wife, a Tibetian girl, whose father helped them immigrate into this country. To him, he has already won his lottery, but he does wonder why other people can't see that they've won this lottery as well.
Some days it feels as though I'm drifting through purgatory, and last night made me wake up, if only for a moment. Is either perspective more justified? Is either thought process less rational? No. they are the same, but it does feel better to smile.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home