Getting a Ride

You ever had one of those days when everything, absolutely everything, simply works out wonderfully?

I had one this week - it started up unexpectedly well, and it went on on that exact same note - I finished it up watching The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, on which I just have to write later.

I should tell you, from the get-go, that I am utterly incapable of getting anywhere on time. I'm always late for stuff. That's how the Universe works, and who am I to go against it?
I have a class to teach at 7 o'freaking clock in the morning, and I gotta leave home at 6:35, tops, in order to take the 6:40 bus. If I miss it, I'll be irrevocably late for work. And that day, I left home at 6:38. Oh, the drama!... I ran.
Little problem: I have very small feet, and some of the shoes I buy are sometimes a little too large for me. And as Murphy's Laws are sovereign in Life, both of my shoes decided to come off while I was running.

I stopped, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, went back and got my shoes. When I looked again, I could see the bus leaving in the distance. "Fuck." An understatement. As I resumed my walk, I was the very picture of despair. And then, to my great surprise, I hear a car honking right next to me: it's a taxi. The cabby, a very nice young man, signalizes for me to come closer and says "C'mon, I'll give you a ride! We'll catch that bus for ya!".
I'd like to say I declined the offer, or that I at least hesitated; that would've been, I guess, the smart thing to do, it's what our mothers tell us to do. Sorry to say, I did neither: I immediately took him up on his offer, and got in the car.
Why? Many reasons, I guess. One, I was desperate; two, his taxi actually belonged to a taxi company, so that made me feel safe - don't ask me why.
But I'm lying.
I didn't feel safe at all - for it never occurred to me to be afraid, which is the main reason why I got in the car.
People who have been reading my blog for a while might've noticed I'm an atheist. Not the kind that goes around bashing religion as a whole, mind. I simply... have no personal creeds, when it comes to religion. So instead, I just try to be good on my own.
And while I don't believe in any Sacred Book (though I don't disbelieve them, either), I do believe in people. All the way.
Because doubting is simply too easy - it's instinctive, it comes with the territory of being human. Believing, now that's a much harder task. So I always give people a chance. Yeah, I'm in for some let downs every now and then, so what? I think that people are completely capable of random acts of kindness.
Guess I'm a 21st century Blanche DuBois, huh? I've always relied on the kindness of strangers.
My BFF got lost once, when she was living in England. Not only did she lose the money for the bus fare, but she also had no idea what bus to take. So this random woman helped her, giving her information and money.
Okay, I'm guessing that the bus fare wasn't that expensive, but still.
Her mother says it was a guardian angel. I say it was a human being, showing us once again that there's a good side to us all - all we gotta do is give ourselves a chance.
Besides, the bus fare can't have been that expensive, c'mon!
Bottom line is: this cabby came out of nowhere and gave me a ride; he sped up and, taking a shortcut, was able to actually arrive at the other bus stop before the bus itself. And as I was trying to find my breath to thank him once again, he smiled and said: "Hey, no big deal, I'm going that way anyway! Besides, you looked so hopeless out there, I had to do something."
Knight-in-shining-armor-complex much? Guess the white horses of yore have converted themselves into yellow cabs! Doesn't matter, awfully nice of him anyway.
I mean, the guy lives off of charging people to get a ride in his car - but he went out of his way to give me a free one. Yeah, okay, he went out of his way only metaphorically, for he had to go that way - it's kind of a one-way out neighborhood. Still, he didn't have to give me that ride. Because of him, I managed to arrive on time.
One might argue that I'm a reasonably good-looking girl, and that I was wearing a skirt that day, and very nice stockings. One might wonder whether he would've given me a ride had I been ugly and with a poor fashion sense.
But I like to think he would've.
This is, I guess, as close to a creed as any.