I found this article on the internet and thought that it was worth sharing. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

I am a taxi driver who makes a living in New York. One day, I received a call from a strange passenger.

This experience left a deep impression on me. So I shared this story anonymously on the Internet:

I got a call asking me to go to an address to pick up passengers. After arriving, I honked the horn, but no one came out.

I called, but no one picked up, and I started to become a little impatient. This was my last stop of the afternoon before I went on break.

I almost gave up and left, but in the end, after thinking about it, I stayed. I decided to wait a while, before getting out of the car and ringing the doorbell.

I heard an old, feeble voice say: “Wait a minute!” I waited at the door for a while before it slowly opened. A petite old lady stood in the doorway. I think that she was at least 90 years old. She had a small suitcase in her hand.

I glanced inside the apartment and was surprised by what I saw.

It almost looked like no one lived there. All the furniture was covered with dust cloths. The four walls were bare. There were no clocks, no decorations, not even a photo or a painting. I only saw a box piled in the corner, filled with old photos and souvenirs.

“Young man, can I trouble you to help me get my suitcase into the car?” said the old lady.

After I put her luggage in the trunk, I came back and took her arm so that I could help her walk downstairs to my car. She thanked me for my help.

“I believe that I should treat passengers like I treat my own mother,” I said.

The old lady laughed. “Oh, you’re really nice,” she said.

She got into the car, gave me an address, and asked me not to take the route downtown.

“But that is my only shortcut. We’ll have to keep detouring,” I told her.

“It’s ok, I’m not in a hurry,” she replied. “I’m going to a nursing home.”

Her words surprised me a little.

“Isn’t a nursing home a place where old people wait to die?” I thought to myself.

“I don’t have any relatives,” the old lady went on. “The doctor said I don’t have much time left.”

At that moment, I decided to turn off the odometer.

“So where would you like me to go?” I asked.

For the next two hours, we traveled around the outskirts of the city. In the car, she pointed out to me a restaurant where she once worked as a hostess. There was the house where she and her husband lived in their early years, and a ballroom she used to dance at when she was younger.

When we drove through certain streets, she asked me to drive more slowly while she stared silently and curiously out the window.

We circled around for almost the whole afternoon and evening until the old lady finally said: “I’m tired. Let’s go to our destination.”

We didn’t say a word on our way to the nursing home. The place was smaller than I had thought. When I parked, two nurses came out to greet us. They brought a wheelchair for the old lady, and I carried her luggage.

“So how much was this ride in total?” the old lady asked while rummaging through her handbag.

“It was free,” I replied.

“But you also have to support your family,” the old lady protested.

“There will be other passengers,” I told her with a smile. I then gave her a goodbye hug without a second thought.

She hugged me back tightly and said with tear-filled eyes: “You made the life of an old woman who has almost reached her last few steps very happy. Thank you.”

I shook hands with her and said goodbye.

On my way back, I found myself driving aimlessly through the city center. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t even have enough energy to pick up passengers. I kept on thinking, what if I hadn’t waited for her?

If I had just driven away, what would she have done?

Now when I think back on that day, I still believe that I made the correct decision.

Our lives always seem to be so busy. There are always more important things that we need to do. However, this old lady made me realize that “quiet, meaningful moments” are also valuable. It also made me feel sad that one’s last journey in life could be full of loneliness and disappointment. If I had not taken the time to make her happy, this was all that she would have gotten.

We all have to take some time off to enjoy our lives. We should not honk the horn in haste, but be more patient. Then, maybe we’ll be able to see what really matters.

“True happiness does not come from comfort, wealth, or the admiration of others,” but from when we do something meaningful.

The original Chinese article is posted on https://cofacts.tw/article/30hfg5okn0oj5.

寧靜……

我在網上找到這篇文章，覺得值得分享。 

一名在紐約謀生的計程車司機，某日就接到一通奇怪的乘客叫車。

這經驗讓他印象深刻、感慨許久，於是在網路上匿名分享這個故事：

當我接到電話，要前往一個地址載客。

到達後，我按了按喇叭，但沒有人出來。

我打了電話，電話沒通，我開始有點不耐煩。

這是我下午準備接的最後一單，很快就要到休息時間了。

我幾乎已經放棄、準備直接開走。

但最後想了想，還是留了下來。

我等了會，下車按了門鈴。

然後聽到一個蒼老虛弱的聲音說：『請等一下！ 』

我在門口等了一陣，

大門才慢慢打開。

一個嬌小的老太太站在門裡，我猜她至少90歲了。

她手上拿著一個小行李箱。

我向內瞄了一眼，

驚訝地發現公寓內的景象。

那裡看起來簡直像沒人居住，所有家具都蓋上了布，四面牆光禿禿的，沒有時鐘、沒有裝飾、沒有照片或畫，什麼都沒有。

我只看到角落堆了一個箱子，裡面都是老照片和紀念品。

「年輕人，可以麻煩你幫我把行李箱拿上車嗎？」

老太太說。

我將行李放進後車廂後，然後回來扶著她的手臂，帶她慢慢下樓走向車子。

她感謝我的幫忙。

「應該的」我說

「我對乘客都像對我自己的媽媽一樣」，

老太太笑了，

「噢，你真的很好」她說。

她坐進車內，給了我一張地址，

並要求我不要走市中心的路。

「但那樣就無法走捷徑了，我們會一直繞道」我向她說。

「沒關係，我不趕時間」

她回答

「我要去的是安寧療養院」。

她的話讓我有些吃驚。

「安寧療養院不就是

老人等死的地方嗎？ 」

我心裡想。

「我沒什麼親人，」

老太太繼續說

「醫生說我剩下的時間不多了。」

那一瞬間，我決定關上里程表。

「所以我應該怎麼走？」我問道。

結果，接下來的兩個小時，我們都在城市近郊穿梭。

在車上，她指給我看她曾做過櫃檯的飯店。

我們經過許多不同的地方，她和丈夫早年住過的房子，還有一個她年輕時曾去的舞廳。

經過某些街道時，

她也會請我開慢點，

好奇地從窗戶內張望，什麼話都沒有說。

我們幾乎繞了整個下午和傍晚，直到老太太終於說：

「我累了，我們前往目的地吧」。

在開往療養院的路上，我們一句話都沒有說。

安寧療養院比我想像的還小。

抵達後，有兩名護士出來迎接我們。

她們拿來一張輪椅，

我則搬著老太太的行李。

「所以這趟車總共多少錢？」

她一邊問，一邊翻找著手提包。

「不用錢！」我回答。

「但你也要養家。」老太太說。

「還會有其他乘客的。」

我笑著對她說。

我幾乎來不及思考，

就給了她一個擁抱。

她緊緊抱住我，她紅著眼眶說道。

「你讓一個人生

幾乎走到最後幾步路的老人，感到十分幸福，謝謝你」

我和她握了手道別。

回程路上，我發現自己在市中心漫無目的地遊蕩。

我不想和任何人說話、也提不起載客的精神。

我一直思考，如果當初我沒等到她？

如果那時我找不到人，就直接開走了，

她該怎麼辦呢？

現在當我回想起那一天，我仍然相信

我做了重要且正確的決定。

我們的生活中，總是不停地被忙碌轟炸。

我們得做更「重要」的事，更快、更有效率。

但這位老太太，

讓我真正體認到了

那安靜、有意義的片刻。

同時也讓我感傷，

人生最後旅程的

那種孤獨和悵然。

我們都必須

花時間與自己相處，

享受我們的人生。

我們都應該在急忙按喇叭前，更有耐心地等待。

然後，或許我們才會看到，真正重要的事情。

真正的快樂不是來自於舒適、財富或別人的讚賞，而是【做了有意義的事】

中文原文發表於https://cofacts.tw/article/30hfg5okn0oj5.