Life moves on - A story of perspective

The Experience That Changed Everything

In a high-rise office overlooking the cityscape, just days before layoff notice.

I was young, ambitious, and living the dream—or so I thought. Working overseas in a gleaming high-rise office, I had carved out my little piece of corporate success. My desk sat in the coveted corner office, with windows offering a panoramic view of the bustling city below. I felt like I was on top of the world.

Until December 2008.

The city lights blurred past the taxi window as I slumped into the worn leather seat, clutching a piece of paper that felt heavier than it should—my termination letter. The pink slip that had been placed in my hands just hours earlier seemed to burn through my fingers.

“McNair Road,” I muttered to the driver, my voice barely audible above the hum of the engine.

I had just escaped from what I thought would be a refuge—a bar where some friends had gathered. Instead of comfort, I’d found myself drowning in a chorus of doom and gloom. Story after story of other people losing jobs, endless rehashing of how terrible the economy was, dire predictions gleaned from news headlines. Each tale of woe had pushed me deeper into despair, until I couldn’t bear another minute of their well-meaning but suffocating pessimism.

I’d left them there, still dissecting the economic apocalypse, and hailed this taxi. If anything, I felt worse than before—more isolated, more hopeless.

The economic downturn had claimed another victim. My position had become “redundant”—such a clinical word for something that felt so devastatingly personal. The questions hammered relentlessly in my skull: Why me? What am I going to do now? What happens to all those dreams I’d carefully constructed? How will I face everyone?

Depression wrapped around me like a suffocating blanket. Self-doubt whispered poison in my ear. I was drowning in my own spiral of frustration when—

“How’s the recession treating your company, son?” The taxi driver’s weathered voice cut through my mental chaos like a knife. Of all the questions in the world, why did he have to ask that one? Why couldn’t he ask where I was from, or comment on the weather, or better yet—why couldn’t he just drive in blessed silence like every other cabbie?

My frustration erupted.

“I just lost my job, Uncle,” I snapped, my tone sharp with rudeness and raw pain.

What happened next changed everything.

“That’s okay, kid…”

Okay? I thought, anger flaring. What does this old man know about how I feel? How dare he say it’s—

“That’s okay, kid. I lost my only son last month.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. The taxi suddenly felt impossibly quiet, save for the gentle rumble of the engine and the distant sounds of the city beyond.

“Life moves on,” he continued, his voice steady, carrying a weight I couldn’t begin to fathom. “You’ve just lost a job.”

Those simple words—spoken by a man who had lost everything that truly mattered—shattered my self-absorbed misery in an instant. Here I was, drowning in self-pity over a setback, while this stranger beside me was navigating an unimaginable tragedy with quiet dignity. In that moment, perspective shifted everything.

The rest of the ride passed in contemplative silence. When I stepped out of that taxi, I was still unemployed. The pink slip was still in my pocket. But something fundamental had changed within me. That old driver, whose name I never learned, gifted me with the most profound truth I’ve ever received: Life moves on. It always does. And sometimes, the very act of moving forward is the most courageous thing we can do.

Years have passed since that December evening, but I carry his words with me still. Whenever life throws its inevitable curveballs—and it will—I remember that taxi ride and the quiet wisdom of a grieving father who chose to comfort a stranger instead of drowning in his own sorrow. That night, I learned that resilience isn’t about avoiding life’s storms—it’s about finding the strength to dance in the rain.

Life moves on.

And so do we.

Cheers to life!!!