Fiindcă se împlinesc 9 ani de la atentatele teroriste de la World Trade Center mi-am adus aminte de o newyorkeză. Doamna călătoreşte destul de des cu taxi-ul şi i-a venit inovatoarea idee să alcătuiască o carte cu “vorbe de duh” de-ale taximetriştilor. În spatele acestui studiu se află o “experienţă” de 15 ani. În toată această perioadă le-a cules şi le-a scris pe cele mai semnificative. Spre deosebire de taximetriştii români, cei americani sunt dispuşi să poarte discuţii decente cu pasagerul. O ştiu de la tatăl meu. În New York a intrat în polemică cu un taximetrist arab. 🙂
Am subliniat favoritele mele. Have fun:
Time relativity: Vietnam war is finished but sixth avenue construction is never finished.
On starting a relationship: new shoes always hurt.
Your heart in your mouth: you say what you like to hear.
On lust: when there is something you want, it seems it is everywhere.
On choosing a mate: you can’t go with the person who loves you. That means nothing. You have to be with the person who you love.
On love and money: for a cab driver, everything is upside down. If a person has 4 dollars and the meter says 4 and they want to go a few more blocks, I will take them, but I have to shut my meter and if I shut my meter, TLC (taxI and limousine comission) will give me a ticket for 100 dollars. This is what I mean about a society that values money over love.
On your shoulders: you have no one to blame but yourself and everyone has you to blame, too.
On commitment: to prepare yourself for marriage, you must think: I am going to bury this person.
On position: it’s always better to be behind a police car.
On understanding: if there is understanding, there is love. If there is no understandning, there is only an endless stream of questions.
On haves and have-nots: if someone gets rich, I do not cheer for them. I weep for myself.
Judging character: don’t look at what he is not. Look at what he is.
On one great love: it’s “when you’re with me, you’re killing me. When you’re not, I’m dying.”
Grounds for marriage: it’s boring when you live by yourself.
On cat fighting: this jealousy, I have seen in my sisters, but not in my brothers.
Love’s burden: love is like a weight on a scale. One person or the other bears its burden.
Why it’s lonely at the top: some people prefer you when you fail.
On holy wars: there are 3 main religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and all have the story of Joseph. We share the same stories, but we fight each other.
On motive: we do everything for ourselves.
A history lesson from a cab driver: England, that was called Britannia. Then the Jewish tribes came in and they were Yiddish and they used a lot of “ish” so they called them British. 🙂
To impatient passengers: if you are always late, it is because you are trying to make the things faster.
Older and wiser: old people. They like to get to the airport early.
On culpability: democracy is only because everyone wants others to share the blame.
On cogs in the machine: regular air is sweeter than air conditioning.
On golden parachutes: whomever is in power is not in trouble.
More for worse, really: Marriage is for when your life is not so good.
On finding a mother: women choose who they love the most. Men choose who loves them the most.
On identity crises: whatever you become, someone will long for what you were.
Light at the end of the tunnel: death is an end and a beginning.
