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A Good Advice |
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Written
by Mei-Yi Chan, Translated by Una Fan
Sep 29, 2001
One day, I was taking a taxi home. Through
the driver's rearview mirror I could see his face, expressionless
and distant. I did not enjoy the awkward silence, so I tried
to start a conversation. "The weather has been getting
cooler recently, hasn't it?" He gave no reaction, so I
decided to keep talking. Suddenly, a speeding car tried to pass
us, but in its hurry it scraped the taxi and damaged a taillight.
The car raced on by us as if nothing had happened. The taxi
driver raced after the runaway car. When I realized we were
speeding up, I got a bit worried. To the angry driver I said,
"Please, be kind. When you reach him, please speak nicely.
Please, don't be mad." Disregarding my comments, he caught
up with the other car.
The two men got out of their cars in the
middle of the street and talked for a while. When they started
to walk back to their cars, it seemed that they had decided
to move their cars to the side and continue to talk. As the
taxi driver got into his car, the other driver ran into his
and drove off. Outraged, the taxi driver stepped on the gas
pedal and chased him again. I did not want this event to end
horribly, so I advised, "I know you are angry. Please restrain
yourself from doing anything you'll regret. I'm a volunteer
with the Tzu Chi Foundation. Master Cheng Yen said, 'When you
are angry, you are only punishing yourself for someone else's
mistake.'"
The angry driver looked at me through the
mirror. I knew that I had his attention, and so I continued.
"Please talk to him nicely. Let him pay the money and then
end this dispute. Don't fight. The person who loses control
is the one who always loses the most."
After chasing around for a while, we caught
up with the offender and both men got out again. Observing from
my window, I saw the other man hand some money to the taxi driver.
When all was done, he got back into the taxi and drove off.
I finally got home, but when I handed the money to the driver,
he said, "Forgive me for wasting your time. If you hadn't
urged me not to fight, I might have been in serious trouble
right now. I might have gone to the police and made a big deal
about it or maybe one of us would have gotten injured and ended
up in the hospital. You said that anger is punishing yourself
for another's mistake. Those are thoughtful words. Thank you
for your help."
I stood there with my money in my
hand as he drove off. I felt happy because I had helped a person
by giving some good advice.
