TAXI WISHES.

Last night I got into a taxi with an Ethiopian cab driver. His name was Desta – happiness.  Desta was forced to flee Ethiopia in 1983 nearly 10 years after his idle Haile Selassie's reign came to an end, when a Soviet-backed-Marxist-Communist military junta, the "Derg" led by Megistu Haile Mariam, disposed him, and established a one-party communist state called the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. He fled to Sudan for 2 years, where he worked for a human rights organization, that later sponsored his citizenship in the U.S.

30 years later, he was steering the wheel of the cab I entered randomly, to get me to a hotel in Los Angeles, California. His greatest wish for the new year: a chance to live in Ethiopia with the rest of his family again.

The People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia party failed. Desta’s gone back there four times since he originally left, but the insecurity of jobs there scares him, so he continues here, driving each day to pay the bills. 

Last week in New York I met Carlos, who was a full-time student at Queens College in New York, but drove a taxi to support his mom’s diabetes medicine. He was in a computer-engineering program, and his IQ clearly surpassed my own… I can’t even do basic addition without using my fingers.  He’s thinkin’ about getting engaged to his girlfriend soon, but wanted to have a stable job so he could provide anything she dreamed of.

A year and a half ago in Washington, D.C. I met a taxi drivin' musician named Willie who taught me more about Jazz than I had ever learned in my life. He played me John Coltrane and told me that anyone who tried to play his songs was bound to be disappointed, because his talent couldn’t be replicated, especially since he never followed the music anyway. And then he went off about Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Herbie Hancock. And told me that he once played with saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. He said all he wanted to do was play jazz, all day and all night.  

I’ve met many taxi drivers, who in my opinion, constitute the most brave and/or talented human beings I’ve encountered in my life. I wish there was a way to grant Taxi Driver Wishes, so that after a certain amount of driving or kindness all taxi drivers could get whatever they want.Then Desta could go back to Ethiopia, and Carlos could find a job that would allow him to give the woman he loves anything in the world, and Willie could play jazz all day. They deserve it.