Regena Handy

Last fall we spent a few days in Raleigh, North Carolina enjoying a big music event. Our hotel was only a couple of miles from the festival area but parking was limited.

The first day we took the city bus, however, found its schedule did not synchronize with our own. From then on we made arrangements via cell phone texts for an Uber vehicle.

Every taxi cab ride I’ve taken has been an experience all its own. All the drivers speed along, pushing their way between other vehicles while madly honking the horn. In other words, they are used to their role and do whatever they have to do to get where they need to go.

It goes without saying that New York City cabs are in a league of their own. Flying into the city is a breeze — it’s the taxi cab ride from the airport to one’s destination that raises the question of survival. During a trip to NYC about 20 years ago, we wondered about ending up as witnesses when our cab driver and another appeared on the verge of coming to blows. Hanging out their windows, screaming, cursing, shaking their fists when one driver cut off the other (or some such infraction).

Most cab drivers I’ve encountered don’t have much to say to the passenger — maybe asking for the destination, maybe where we’re from, or if this our first visit to the area. That’s okay, I don’t mind. My hearing isn’t good so it would probably be a one word conversation from my end — what?

But one night in Raleigh as we were returning to our hotel, our Uber driver was a talkative fellow. Though he had an accent I was not used to, he was easy to follow. He shared a little about his life, his family’s move to the area, some of what they’d endured, and how he’d become a driver.

Then he made a remark about the occurrences in his life that stuck with me. He said, “With every change you learn something.”

And that is so true. Think about your own life, what each change has brought. These occurrences were perhaps not always by choice or anything you planned or wanted. Yet how often has such a change turned out to be, at least, a learning experience and often even a good thing.

An example comes from an acquaintance whose job was eliminated due to the closure of the business where she’d worked for years. Loss of the job was devastating to her but she eventually returned to school and found employment in a totally different line of work. Later on, she confided that she loved her new career but would never have taken that step had she not been forced to do so. Though others in similar situations might feel quite differently, no doubt they found the changes to be learning experiences for them in other ways.

In my own circumstances, I have found that unintentional change, while often unwelcome, has taught me self-reliance and a strength I didn’t know I possessed. At times, that has been the case only because there was no other choice.

With every change you learn something. Wise words.