Positive: Left | Negative: Right
Today we met a tuk-tuk driver
who
was doing his best to honor us | was trying to use us to gain status.
It happened like this:
I was singing in the middle of a tomb.
Maybe
it wasn’t a good decision. | it was a good decision.
But
Maybe it was | Maybe it wasn’t.
Because immediately afterward,
a man approached and introduced himself.
He only spoke a little English.
But he offered to buy us tea.
Except
He was a tuk-tuk driver
And he had to go pick someone up.
So…
he said he’d return.
We promised to be there | We tentatively agreed to meet him
…
we weren’t. | except we met some other friends.
But he came and found us,
and we got in his tuk-tuk.
We asked to go home
but he still wanted to get tea. | but he ignored us
And I guess our translator accidentally | and started driving us the opposite
told him we wanted to go to a mosque | direction toward a mosque
with a maze.
We tried to communicate
via translate app,
but he couldn’t read. | but he refused to listen.
Someone had called for a ride, | We’d agreed on the metro
So he took us to the mosque | but he still took us to the mosque
first.
We could have gotten out, | We should have gotten out
but that would have dishonored him. | but we didn’t have money to get home.
When we got there,
he introduced us to his friends. | He paraded us around like a prize.
He knew we needed to leave, | He had an appointment
So we left before he’d planned, | So he made us leave early
but
when we exited the mosque,
his tuktuk was already full.
He was trying to make us happy, | He owed us a ride to the metro
so he argued with his paying customers. | so I balanced on a metal bar while he drove.
Eventually,
he kicked the others out,
called them another tuk-tuk, | —abandoned them on the side of the road–
then took us to get chai
and then to the metro.
Without pay.
He lost two hours of work | At that point
because he considered us to be his friends. | we wouldn’t have paid him anyway.
This kind of situation happens often on the Race. Every time, we are faced with a choice. How will we react? Will we love the person in front of us, or allow our emotions to rule us?
Frustration and miscommunication are reality, especially in foreign countries. It is not a sin to feel frustrated, but we are responsible for how we react. I, personally, have reacted in both ways. So my question to you is…
Which perspective would you have taken?
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