I still don't understand why the taxi driver who drove me home tonight had to tell me all the tragedy in his life only because I started a small talk about how the taxi ordering system works. This is really unfair. I treated him with respect, but in return, he put me into a big dilemma.
On one hand, he had violated my rights not to hear the details of a stranger's financial condition and his wife's medical history. On the other hand, he had - intentionally or not - put me in a situation where I would feel like a heartless bitch if I exercised my rights and did not respond to him.
And seriously, he said he couldn't share his problems with anyone because they wouldn't understand. What made him think that a stranger who simply needed a taxi ride home would? Plus, how can I know that he did not tell the same story to all of his passengers just to get some pity money?
Anyway, I finally decided to ignore him and told him in the end that I hoped things would get better. But to alleviate my guilt, I told the story to some friends to see if they'd do the same had they been in my taxi. Luckily a lot of my friends have the same level of moral standard as me. In dilemmatic situations like this, they always feed my id and praise me for being "logical" or "practical". These are the same people who fully support my idea to volunteer for the Mentawai tsunami victims so that I can work on my tan while padding my resume and looking adventurous on Facebook.
Oh well, objectively speaking, I really did not have the obligation to sympathize with him. It is everyone's responsibility to build their own network of emotional support or a medium to channel their frustation (like I'm doing with this "kvetch").
Of course saying this doesn't make me look like a great person, but at least, I have made a good enough case not to be called a heartless bitch for what I did (or didn't do).
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