The Taxi Driver

By Hogande Kiafuli

Dusk was approaching and people were rushing to board the last of the buses that arrived at the Koki bus stop. Men, women and children all squeezed though the bus door, while desperate males jumped through the windows. All were vying for one of the limited seats. It was the survival of the toughest!

   Left behind was a 20-year old student returning from school. Shy, humble and I-don’t-want-any-trouble kind of guy he was. And he was a stutter too. Poor lad. As he stood by waiting for the next bus to come, he was approached by a group of thug. His money was what they want. If they don’t get what they came for, regardless of whether he has the money or not, he will be assaulted physically. If he resists, he’s likely to be brutally battered.

   As the scene rolled on, the poor lad was stabbed, because the thugs didn’t get what they wanted. He sustained a deep knife wound to the left shoulder, another over the spine at his back and one to the left side of his scalp, just above the left ear. His shirt was removed, his mobile phone picked from his pocket, and he was beaten to semi-consciousness. It was like the story in the Bible, where the thieves “stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10:30)

   Interestingly, the Biblical similarity continued. A taxi cab driver arrived at the scene a little bit too late to prevent the assault, but early enough to prevent death from claiming the boys life. He picked up the lad, put him in his own vehicle, covered his wounded body with a new shirt he has just bought, and rushed him the Port Moresby General Hospital’s Emergency Department. At the hospital, he found an empty trolley at the gate to the ED, onto which he laid the wounded lad and pushed him in. ‘I found him beaten and left on the road, so I brought him,’ was all he said and left!

   Thirthy-six hours passed when the worried parents later found out about their son’s situation. But what they didn’t find out, though they wish they could, was the identity of the taxi driver. He was to be simply remembered as the good Taxi Driver!

Another such character popped out five days later. He was driving slowly behind a car along the Magi Highway. Suddenly the car in front, while swerving over a bend in the road, overturn, and after three complete revolutions, came to a stop by the roadside. The driver, who happened to be heavily intoxicated with alcohol, was severely injured.

   The cab driver from behind pulled up to the overturned vehicle, got out of his vehicle and ran over to the injured driver. With the help of the not-so-injured victims, he pulled out the injured driver, put him onto his own cab and sped for the hospital. It was the Paradise Private Hospital that they arrived at.

   Anyone who’s been to a private hospital will have a fair idea of how much services there cost. Well, the stranger paid for all the fees, from consultation to CT scanning! When he was told that the patient needs urgent surgery and must be referred to PMGH, he transferred him over in his own cab.

   By that time, the relatives of the injured had already arrived, so the cab driver slowly stepped away and was lost to sight, to be seen no more. Guess how much he spent for someone he didn’t even know? Up to two thousand kina! And all that was known about him was that he was a good Tubuserea man.

What hearts full of Christ-like compassion!  Imagine how the world would be like, if everyone can have the compassionate heart of the Taxi Driver, or the Tubuserea Man! Maybe a little heaven on earth, or a beautiful spot of paradise in the Universe.
   Do to others what you would want others to do to you!