I am sitting in the domestic terminal in Sydney, reflecting on the very unusual and unexpectedly entertaining taxi ride in. Let me set the scene for you:
I have been in Sydney since yesterday morning, for an overnight real estate sales seminar. One high performer, Stephen Bock from Manly, finished off the seminar with a very motivational narration and slideshow of his climb to the peak of Everest earlier this year. The very essence of the human spirits’ power was aptly represented and bone chillingly raw, my jaw was probably on the ground for the entire hour. He talked of several near death experiences, the humbling qualities the mountain possesses, the fact that the entire preparation of years and years and years of hard work, mental stimulation and conditioning, could easily come undone in the first few days. To say that it was an eye opener and a reality check is a gross understatement. This simple quote sums it up for me:
“People say to me all the time ‘Good work mate, you conquered the mountain!’, but I say to them ‘No, she kindly let me up, she threw a few obstacles in the way, but she let me up”.
He spoke of Mt Everest like she was a person, a living and breathing entity with choices. Of course, she is alive and breathing.
So my frame of mind was very deep and meaningful. I’m waiting out the front of the hotel, and was keeping very much to myself when the taxi arrived.
It is a very clean, meticulously kept maxi taxi. “Where you off to?” an Asian with a heavy accent asks. “Domestic terminal” I reply in a relatively dismissive manner. My head was full and I was keen on relaxing. “Aaahhhh” he says, “You go home? Why you go home? Sydney bootiful place!”
Great. I’m stuck with a guy who can’t speak much English and wants to make small talk. I really don’t have the brain capacity to make small talk right now.
Then he says something completely left field:
“I’m going to ask you a question, which you have to answer very honestly and in the first 10 seconds. If you get it right, it means you are a very very smart man, and the fare is on me. If you answer incorrectly, you’re not very smart and you have to pay double. Deal?” Then and there I realize I’m in for an unusual cab ride.
Needless to say I got the answer right. It was a lateral thinking exercise, and he was impressed. Within minutes there was much laughter coming from the cab, the cars next to us at the lights were amused by us. But it is the conversation which followed, that kinda shook me.
“No, I have had girl friends, but never very serious…”
“Why you not serious? You know the girl maybe want to be serious with you. Do you want to get married?” he quizzes.
“For sure, eventually I do, it’s just not my time yet!”
“Do you know what the point of getting married is? Like you come here to Sydney, the point is for work, what is the point of getting married?”
“Well yes but no, not all people can have kids. The point of marriage is that today is a better day than yesterday, that you are so happy with your wife, and she is so happy with you, that you can’t help but serve one another, to make each other happy no matter the cost. You love each other so much, that you wake up today and there is nothing which can take your happiness away. Each day gets better and better. Today is better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be better than today. This is the foundation of a long, happy marriage and a healthy and happy family. This is very important.”
Like a flash of lightning, a moment where time seems to stand still and everything makes sense, it occurred to me that this is real. This is the whole thing of life. You need to wake up happier tomorrow then what you were today. This is the only way to have a truly happy life. What are you going to do today, to make tomorrow better?
“Do you have children?” I ask.
“I have 4 girls and my wife” he says with a smile from ear to ear.
“Are they all happy and healthy?”
“Then you are a very rich man” I say.
“The richest in the world!” He exclaims. “I have my spirit and my family, all the money in the world could not replace this.”
And then we started on religion. He has been a Buddhist, a Muslim and now a Christian. We had a long and in depth conversation about heaven, earth and our place in it. He was very knowledgable and a truly great conversationalist despite the language difficulties, and I started wondering why this guy had chosen to be a taxi driver when he could’ve been a philosopher or philanthropist or anything in between.
“Why do you just drive cabs?” I blurted. Then I realized my mistake. He looked at me with an almost hurt in his eye for a millisecond, till he realized it wasn’t my intention to offend him but to compliment him.
“I am in a perfect position to make a person’s day better, every day. It gives me good money, I can go home every night with my family, and I can make someone’s day, every day.’
A cab driver. If he can make someones day better, and be that happy and content by driving cabs and looking after his family, well, we all have a lot to learn. Next time I am having a bad day, Ill think of Josh, the richest taxi driver in the world.
Ask yourself: “Who could I help?”, “Who’s day can I make better?”
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