Inspiration 365 Days!

Sixteen years ago I learned an important life lesson, in the back of a New York City taxi cab.

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by mere inches! The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was actually friendly!

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz.

I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.

Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

You are stuck in a traffic jam, impatient and frustrated, until a policeman runs off a sequence of pliés, arabesques and pirouettes right in front of your car.

It is bound to bring a smile to your face. At least that is the hope of police chiefs in the western Romanian city of Timisoara, who have sent their officers to ballet classes in the hope of helping them to manage the traffic with more grace and ease, and to encourage a reduction in road rage.

Forget about mistakes that you can’t change
But don’t forget the lesson that you’ve learnt…

Hardest of Life’s lessons is loss,
In which having becomes without,
When complete changes to shatters,
That what was full is, just an emptiness,
And guided becomes lost.