the taxi driver's daughter

I normally travel to the city by cabbing as it saves me the hassle of getting my bearings right and finding parking close to my destination.

I met this taxi driver who was probably nearing 70 (or maybe he looked older than he actually was) on the way back from the city to the office. He spoke perfect English and he enquired about the company I was working with. Turns out he has a daughter who recently graduated from university and is currently looking for employment, and 3 other children, 1 of whom was handicapped and cannot walk. He doesn't know what his son is doing for a living (his son has a family of his own) and mentioned that his eldest daughter is also seeking for a job. It makes me a little sad, seeing this fragile man in his twilight years, still having to toil day after day, navigating the little alleys, streets and highways to earn a living.

On that same day, our Managing Director celebrated his 60th birthday in glamour and style with the presence of all his staff and family members. His only concerns were how to propel the Company to greater heights and grow in terms of size and revenue. He had a beautiful wife, a succesful daughter, wealth, health and a great life.

It makes me wonder, how unfair life trully is. Two men, almost the same age but entirely different destinies. As pessimistic as this sounds, I think sometimes, nothing is accidental and our fates have been pre-determined and our eventual outcomes on Earth are there - in the sky, written in the stars. The only way to accept pain, suffering and solitude is to embrace it and grow...in all of your loneliness and disappointments...and learn to acknowledge that certain things in life just are the way that they are.