***Writer's Note: This entry contains strong content that may if read over your shoulder by your boss, pastor, rabbi, or grandmother could result in a lecture, time out, fine, finger pointing, excessive questioning, or even termination- of internet provider. That being said hop on in.
Saturday marked the one year anniversary of one of the finest blocks by a friend on me. That moment was a great and always revisited memory. I am thouroughly convinced that the reminising is far better than any shared moment with that girl. One year later her helter went away and she was sporting a sophisticated black tank low cut top and some crazy red vinyl/leather skirt. I didn't say hello it just wasn't right with my friend not being there to help destruct the night.
After leaving that fine establishment we partook in one more beer before realizing how much shorter the night should have been. We grabbed a cab. And within a moment I met the best cab driver ever that took us on the most memorable mile and a half ride.
His name Pedro. Maybe you know him. He drove a fine cab, the kind you would send your mother to the airport in. However this was no trip to the airport. We were in route for pizza and fast. Now I exchange words with him before getting into the cab. "Thank God you're not Yellow Cab!" He replies "Yeah, I know. Tell me about it."
Pedro and I apparently share the same affliction for Yellow Cab and I must have been that safe zone he was looking to voice his opinion. "They fuckin' suck." "The drivers are rude and don't know how to drive" Now I was not looking to partake in that debate but I sure as hell was ready to hate on Yellow Cab. Fortunately, Pedro was able to do all the talking.
When Pedro took a second to catch his breath I mentioned how cool he was to tell it how it is. I then up the anty. "Pedro, I will pay you an extra $2 if you tell a Yellow Cab driver "fuck Yellow Cab." "No problem man, I hate Yellow Cab!"
Then Pedro did something not every cabbie does. He opened up. That man needed a hug I swear. "See, I see so much when I drive, and no one know what I see, but I see it all. There is no reason for you to stay with any woman you meet at any of these bars, at this hour. They are after your money and will take your will to live." (or something close to that) "I am a social observer, I don't just watch the traffic lights, I see people being manipulated and being taken to the cleaners..."
The cab stops. I wonder why.
"Hey boss!" Pedro shouts at of all things a Yellow Cab driver. The Yellow Cab stops in it's tracks. Pedro sticks his head out the window and screams "Fuck Yellow Cab!!!"
For two dollars I learned I was not alone. For two dollars I saw a man finally speak his mind. For two dollars we laughed our asses off for a reason that was so trivial we needed to focus on it.
Life is well worth the price of admission.
Since, I have lost access to my own e-mail due to fanatic control of the IT people I will use my time at work that would be otherwise spent to comment on the blog. We must all learn the valuable lesson from this encounter, that speaking one's mind is nothing to be feared.
ReplyDeleteToo many of us lose ourselves to the righteousness of silence and politically correctness (see above blog for a relevant warning about wrath of articulation and years of repressed analogies). Soo many of us are afraid to actually cause waves that we sit in the pond of society still; we sit there and just exist. If you are not making people mad and causing people to confront your ideas then you have no ideas. You do not belong amoung the community of Americans. We fought and died for the right to speak freely and now we are right back in the same place. Unfortunately it is not because of the fear of the writs of assistance or general warrants but because of the fear that someone might write a letter to the editor or file suit against us. It is time that we actually use our voices and our intellect and speak...we need to make the marketplace of ideas that exists in the world of public discourse an actual marketplace. Right now it is more like the battle of Walmart and Target. There are so many more than just two sides to every story...let your's be heard.