Where do the lessons of life reside? You know, I always think that they reside in books for the most part. We can learn a lot from books but that’s only partially true, isn’t it? Because if you look around, you realize that life has so much to teach you. This is in fact why I really enjoy teaching young people because young people in reality teach you far more than you could ever give them back.
And their ideas may not be fully developed, some of them might be radical, but they give you pause as they say to make you really reflect. So I’d like to share a couple of stories that happened recently when I was on my trip in Canada. You know, I always like to ride buses because I think when you ride a bus I don’t ride buses very often to be honest. But when you ride a bus, you always have time to have a good look at people. You know, every now and then you meet some interesting people along the way.
But really the people I really enjoy chatting with are the bus drivers because I think the bus drivers, they really have to be on mass, the type of individuals that see more people per capita than virtually anyone. Maybe dentists, doctors, they see a lot of people but bus drivers, my gosh, they see the public in general. So I like to sit down and inquire, how’s it going, how’s life, all of those things. So I get on this bus and the bus driver is a very large man that’s being polite. He’s obese.
No question at all. He’s so large that the steering wheel is virtually touching his stomach. So you get the idea. He’s big. So we go along a little while, you know, some small talk and what have you.
And then I asked him, so how do you like driving bus? And he looks at me with this fire in his eyes. He said, what are you talking about? I said, well, like driving bus. Do you enjoy it?
He said, you mean work? I hate work. Whoever invented this nonsense of work and he adds some really bad and shocking language for a bus driver. Whoever invented this idea of work is a fool. So then I said to him, well, what if you did enjoy your job?
I mean, what if you enjoyed it going to work on a daily basis? And he looked at me and he said, well, then it wouldn’t be work, would it? And he kinda with that indication with the eyes l stupid or what a ridiculous question. Who is this fool? So I get off that bus.
You know, it’s pretty early in the morning and, gee, I thought to myself, gosh. If you’re getting on the bus at 6 in the morning and you meet an individual like this, boy, very quickly you would hate life. Gosh. You don’t wanna meet these people too often. So then, I stopped for a bit and I get on the next bus.
And the next bus, good looking woman driving the bus about 50 years old. But literally, she looks like an opera singer with the big hair and the manicured nails and she’s voluptuous and attractive and gosh, everything. So I sit down. I get once again small talk talking away. And I ask her, so how do you like driving bus, madam?
And she says, I love driving bus. I’ve been driving bus for 18 years since we came from Uganda, and it’s put my family back on a financial footing. And I’m really appreciative of this job. I’ve never quit it because it’s given me economic stability and psychological solace. And I remembered, you know, that in 1972, I think, Idi Amin, he was a dictator of Uganda at the time, and he expelled all the Indians.
And this woman was an Indian. Expelled all the Indians from Uganda and many ended up in Canada. I’m sure some returned home to India. So it was a real shock. So they lost everything.
Totally indigent when they ended up wherever they went. Right? So this woman was so appreciative that she had been given a job in Canada. So there you are. 2 totally different views of life.
1 individual absolutely hating his work and the other, the woman just filled with joy and so thankful. So it makes you think, doesn’t it, that we create our own reality. We’re totally in control of what life is and what life throws at us. And this is very much a stoic doctrine, isn’t it, That you have to be prepared for adversity, whatever that could possibly be. And you know yourself that you will overcome adversity no matter what no matter what.
And you’re going to go on this path of life and you’re going to win and you ultimately will be successful. And if you think to yourself, which I think is very important, if you think to yourself the the number of people that we really admire in life that have overcome adversity, you know, and have been allowed to live fulfilling lives. And in the end, they achieved this happiness that Aristotle talks so much about. And, you know, if I could just bring in a personal story, my grandfather was a person I greatly admired. He had a great big garage, great big shop, and lost everything in 1929 and big family, French Canadian family, and had to start again, totally again.
And so by the time I remember meeting him, when I was 6 or 7 years old, as such, he had reestablished himself. He was a sea captain, and then he went on to retire as a sea captain. He would work once a week between Vancouver and Alaska. There was a cruise line he would be on, be responsible for. And then after that, he retired, if you will, and was the manager of an apartment building, the Alcazar, quite the name in Victoria.
And then eventually, he passed away when I was about 15. But I thought to myself, gosh, What an individual to overcome such adversity and yet be able to live a decent life. So I guess where do the lessons of life reside? I guess they reside all around as long as we are aware. As long as we are aware.
Right? And you know what they say. You know what they say. Critical thinking is necessary if we’re going to pay attention to the world that we live in. We should all be stoics to a certain extent, and critical thinking is great, truly great. You take care. God bless. Bye bye.