Dorsai - Taxi

Helen leaned back against me, and I put my arm around her as the two of us got a little of our energy back; Sarah helped by handing each of us our soda when we indicated we were thirsty.

I was a little surprised when Helen asked me "Jim, I notice that you aren't wearing a wedding ring. You're obviously not gay" – causing all of us to laugh for a moment – "and I somehow get the feeling that you wouldn't be here if there was a woman in your life. Would you mind telling me how it is that someone as good with a woman as you doesn't have a wife – or at least, a girlfriend?"

Nothing for me to do, then, but try to explain to them that the girlfriends I got invariably ended up getting upset with me because I was perfectly happy just driving a cab, and not interested in "making more of myself". It was Sarah that commented that I seemed fairly intelligent, and from there it was a brief period of question-and-answer as I explained to them how I'd dropped out of college, and why. Both had a little trouble understanding it (Helen more so than Sarah), until I explained it by telling them "Look, it's actually pretty easy to understand. If I'd stayed in school and gotten my degree, I'd be just one of a bunch of kids with philosophy degrees. I'd have had to continue on to a a Masters, or even Doctorate, to even begin to stand out from the crowd. Except that I realized that my interest – passion, even – for philosophy in the classical sense didn't jibe with what philosophy had become. Facing that, I knew that I wouldn't be happen doing it as a career; so that left me to decide what I did want to do. Keep in mind that I fully knew that whatever it was, I knew that I'd be doing it for long time – I mean, it would be a career, right? So I looked around at what kinds of jobs an almost-college-graduate could get, and tried some of them. The one that I like most, because it let me apply what I'd learned as a philosopher, was driving a cab. I could have been mediocre to good at anything else, but I knew that I could be a damn good cabbie, so that's what I went with. And I'll point out that it was you, Helen, that told me that I provided – and I quote – 'excellent driving and service'."

Helen pulled my arm from around her waist, but only long enough to get up and turn around on my lap so she could look at me before asking "Okay, I guess I can understand that part of it. I mean, you are easily the best cab driver I've ever ridden with. But how in the world do you get to apply philosophy, as you describe it?"

I smiled at her, and answered "I drive people around. A lot of people. All kinds of people. And like pretty much everyone, sometimes these people have problems. Cabbies, we're kind of like a bartender or barber or any other profession that provides an individualized service to people: our customers or clients talk to us. Sometimes, it's just about trivial stuff like they've got to mow the lawn that weekend and that kind of thing. But there are also times when people will talk to us about stuff that really bothers them, too: a cheating spouse, or knowing about a co-worker that's stealing from their employer, or some other problem that's tying them up in knots. When that happens, I've usually got enough leeway and rapport with the person that I can ask a few questions. I make it sound like I'm trying to understand the problem from their perspective, but what I'm trying to get them to do is shift their view or focus – even a little bit. If I can do that, and I can tell if it's working by how they answer my questions, then I can turn around and maybe ask them a couple of questions to get them started on finding an answer to their problem that works for them. It doesn't always work, of course, and I don't always get to learn the results. But I do hear back often enough that I know it works, and that I am able to help folks. So, as a cabbie, I'm able to take what I've learned about philosophy and actually use it to help real people solve real problems in the real world."

Both of them sat there, just blinking at me for a few seconds, before Helen said "I'll be damned. I couldn't understand how a college dropout could actually be doing anything to help people; but damned if I don't think that you do! You seemed fairly intelligent to me, but I can see now that I wasn't giving you the credit you deserve. And I think that I can understand how and why you would be happy driving cabs, now. I'll bet that you don't get tips like the one I gave you tonight very often; but I'd be willing to bet that you get enough like it to be fairly comfortable – particularly if your tastes aren't expensive."

I smiled and shook my head before replying "No, my tastes are pretty simple, actually. I'm fine with a good beer instead of expensive scotch. I don't feel like I have to have the latest gadgets or gizmos advertised on TV, and I shop for quality instead of brand name or fashionability. And so you don't have to ask, I'm also able to take care of my future, too; I've made some investments, and got some nice savings built up."

I was surprised, then, at the question that Sarah asked me: "What do you think about what Mom told you? About our money, and friends, and all that? And about maybe meeting someone that cares about US, and not our bank accounts?"

Both of them were watching me closely as I thought about it, and were paying close attention when I said "I'm not sure why you figure it has to be an all or nothing deal, as far as the money is concerned. Couldn't you work it as something like a trust, where you get a fixed amount every so often? And from what you said, it sounded like both of you have a lot of free time; is there any reason you can't find something else to do with your time, like working or volunteering someplace so that you come across more real folks, instead of rich people; and get to meet regular guys?" Looking at Helen, I said "I'll bet when you met your husband, he wasn't doing the same job that he was when he died – I mean, didn't he have to pretty much work his way up, too?"

She nodded, and I continued "There you go, then. If you're worried about the money, take it out of the equation: fix things so that even if you DO happen across a leech, he can't take you for everything. If you're not happy with the men you're meeting, then get out to where there're more and different guys. If you've got a problem and an answer that don't match up, then you can either change the answer or change the problem."

Again, both of them simply sat there for several seconds before Helen uttered a soft "Damn", followed a few seconds later with a slightly louder "Well, crap."

Looking at me intently, Helen told me "Damn, you are smart. I've been beating my head against the wall for months trying to figure out how to keep the gold-diggers away from all of our money, and you come up with answers to the problems I was having in just a couple of minutes! Changing the money or guy situation either one would have given me a way out, but you found solutions to both problems – and a third one that I hadn't even recognized yet. You're right; Sarah and I do spend most of our days just killing time and looking for things to do. She wants go on to college, but she doesn't have any idea of what she wants to do, or what she's interested in."

"Why does she have to?" I asked. "The way I figure it, college is to give a young person exposure to a broader variety of subjects; then once they found something that sparks their interest, they could narrow their focus on that particular field. Let her go to college and start taking all the general education classes that aren't taught in high school. Maybe she'll hit on her life's passion in one of them. Remember, there's a lot of stuff available at college that they can't even touch on in high school: sociology, philosophy, mathematics, psychology, accounting, finance, the sciences, history, languages, technology – all kinds of things. If nothing else, she comes out the other side with a pretty good general education, a degree, and more maturity and discipline. At best, she graduates with a whole career ahead of her."