Taxi Driver Wisdom by Risa Mickenberg

Author:Risa Mickenberg [Mickenberg, Risa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

introduction

I think Jean-Paul Sartre picked me up outside the Knicks game last week. Or was it Krishnamurti? The truth is, most of the world’s greatest philosophers wouldn’t look out of place on a hack license.

New York cab drivers are the world’s most accessible source of truth and wisdom. Where else can you have intimate discussions with someone from Tibet, Bangladesh, Liberia, India, Zaire, Pakistan, Vietnam, Iran, Russia, Haiti, Peru, Lithuania, Poland, the Ivory Coast?

Where else can you hear the wisdom of Taoism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Islam, Santeria, Zógqen, Zoroastrianism?

Maybe because people can only deal with limited-time intimacy, we get into a taxi and suddenly we can reveal our souls. We can ask questions we’ve been afraid to ask.

A cab is a kind of confessional-mobile. Musky with incense or air freshener, sealed off from the rest of the world, slide open that glass divider and it’s just you and your guru, sharing a few minutes of reflection and advice.

An ashram costs $5,000 a week. A psychiatrist costs $250 an hour. An astrologist will run you around $100. But a cab ride is only $2.50 for the first mile, plus fifty cents per 1/5 mile or 60 seconds in slow traffic or when the vehicle is stopped.

In cabs, I have learned how to fight fairly, how to manage fear, when to accept fate, when to avoid midtown.

The next time you’re in a taxi, ask the driver what function truth serves. Ask why evil exists. Ask if jealousy contradicts love. Keep your mind and your bulletproof window open. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “In every man, there is something wherein I may learn of him.” Or as one cabdriver put it, “If you’re a smart person, you can see what’s smart about the next guy. If you’re secretly afraid you’re a moron, okay, then, to you, everybody’s a moron.”

In the twenty years since this book was first published, the wisdom within remains as true as ever. And in the era of lost-without-an-app rideshare drivers, there’s still no better route than with a cabbie who knows more than just where you’re going.

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