The Buddha in the Yellow Cab

There are some tiny, miniscule moments that are more than enlightening.  When a stranger manages to warm your soul you feel the world is right.  You forget about cruelty and wind and rain and feel only the sun.

Getting into a cab, which didn't completely pull over, making it unclear if the driver was actually picking me up, I noticed the driver was occupied on his phone and paused just long enough to allow me to offer my destination.  I pulled out my phone to amuse myself, assuming there was no polite chit-chat to be had, when the driver ended his call.  He was at least 65 but could have been closer to 95 and originally from Pakistan, which I found out later in our conversation.

"Fifth and Market, ma'am?"
Yes, thank you - Fifth and Market.

{Long Pause}

Has it been a busy morning?
"Oh yes, good this morning."

{Shorter Pause}

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day - the sun is actually out this morning!
"Yes, beautiful today"

{The Pause that Turns into Silence - Yet Didn't}

"Ma'am, I must say, you are very beautiful woman - very beautiful."
Oh my gosh [uncomfortable laugh], thank you...?
"Yes, you are!  You are very beautiful, not just in your face but the way you stand also.  Your color, your nose, your lips, it is all...it all makes beautiful.  You have a soft face and with your color, very beautiful."

All this time I am awestruck, and slightly nervous - the driver is talking to me in the mirror, not really watching the road...

You're very kind, I say, as I try to laugh off his kindness, "I'll have to tip you very well - I'm happy to pay for compliments!"

"No, no!  I say because is true.  Look (as he pulls out a receipt to show me the tip on a $95 fare), I don't talk to this customer.  He tips me well anyway.  Some are beautiful, and we are saying "is beautiful", but not all are beautiful, and we are not saying..."

He then slowed down to point out a women, who I believe he was saying wasn't beautiful, but without saying so - it was more a comparison of two dissimilar objects.  He said, "See...that color...eh...and we are not saying is beautiful.  But you are!  Go home: in the mirror for 10 minutes...you will see each part: nose, cheeks, color, and then you will see all is beautiful.  You will see it - you will see it yourself."

I wish I remembered more of what he said because it almost made me cry and certainly makes the top ten list of kindest things anyone has ever said to me.  And perhaps I'm easily scammed - for a few dollars more in a tip?  Seemed like so much effort for so little - for him.  I like to think he saw something I don't, and he saw even more deeply to tell me to look in the mirror.

I've heard there's a little Buddha in every one of us, but today I saw him in someone very clearly - and very brightly.  From those kind words I burn a little brighter today, tonight still, and the world is right.