EXCUSES OR CHANGES

‘There are only two types of people in this world’, he said.

‘Only two types…those who make excuses and those who make changes’, he continued.

I believe there is a reason we meet certain people when we do. It is as if they are sent to us at a time in our lives when we need to hear something to shake us up and get us thinking about how to move forward with our lives. Such was the case this morning when the shuttle driver arrived to take me to the airport.

He was a tall, black man with a strong and confident voice. I did not get his name. At 43, he said his life took a ‘720 turn’ in the past ten years. In that time he got married to a woman with four daughters. He tells me he is now a grandfather seven times.

He talked about a ‘higher power’, what he called ‘god’ though he is not religious. He mentioned he is a member of Narcotics Anonymous where he is a counselor. The way he was talking during the entire drive to the airport, I felt I was listening to a sermon at church but not the typical doom and gloom preaching. This was more of a life counselor session as if he needed to be sent to me at this particular point in time.

I lamented about not having found a job yet. ‘If anyone tells me they cannot find a job in Austin, it’s because they’re not looking hard enough’, he exclaimed. He went on to tell me that Austin has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and one simply needs to keep looking harder.

Rent was another topic of discussion as he was well informed about the rents in the area due to him and his wife moving back to the North Austin area next month. When he told me how much less he was paying for a place larger than the house I am renting, albeit it was south in Manor, my heart sank as this confirmed I was grossly overpaying for my cave. He acknowledged this fact and told me to find another place as soon as possible.

He went on to tell me he keeps himself informed by studying about history, his favourite subject. He also let me know he has studied about almost every type of religion in existence simply for the knowledge but also to ‘not step on…toes’, as he put it, of the people with whom he comes in contact.

What message did I get from this 30-minute drive? Keep going, move forward, and try harder. And also to believe that everything will work out for the best in the end.