If you're following along at home, you should have an idea by now of what it's like to be an Uber driver. I'm sure every city has its own kinds of people but DC definitely has some good ones. That's certainly a well I'll be able to frequent for blog ideas. Today is no exception.
Yesterday, I picked up a well-dressed, well-spoken, and well-mannered African-American who was probably in his early to mid-30's. He had his young son with him who looked to be not much more than 1 year old. I'm in the habit of letting my passengers initiate conversation, just in case they don't want to talk.
He started off asking me about my day and when I asked him about his, he explained how grateful he was to have received a check in the mail but that it was too late for him to make it to his bank so he had to catch an Uber to go downtown to find an open bank.
About 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back gave us quite a bit of time to chat. Turns out, he's the oldest of 8 kids, he's an Army reservist, he served a tour in Kabul, and he's suffering a mild case of PTSD. Something that stood out was him talking about a class he attended at some point and how he was influenced by something the instructor taught.
He said that the instructor asked the class to define "poor." He remembered that many of the responses had to do with a lack of material possession and a few referenced what might be called a poverty of relationships. But he said the thing that moved him and that sticks with him to this day is how the instructor defined it...
"Passing Over Opportunity Regularly"
No comments:
Post a Comment