Taxi Driver

"The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think."
- Aristotle

I got into the taxi and as I leaned over to do my seatbelt, I saw a copy of the Holy Bible on the floor. I asked if that was what he had been reading before I got in, and he started to explain that he feels he is a better person for reading it. I confessed I have never read the bible, and then worried he would judge me for it, so I blamed the small print. He lifted it up and showed me the print size, which also revealed how he had highlighted passages. I was impressed.

"Would you consider yourself religious, or do you read it as a 'words of  wisdom' thing?" I asked. He went on to explain how he had changed over the last few years to be more moderate, and how he didn't find it to be a religion thing, so much as he could see himself as being neither better nor worse than anyone else, but in reading the Bible he was associating with something pure and free of sin. It reminded me of the attempts to find the good done by Plato and Aristotle; I recommended he read Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and gave him 10$, telling him to keep the change. I'm not sure if that was because I felt bad already for accepting the money from that guy at the bar or if I just recognized that this man probably looked at the world in exactly the way I try to, but either way he was quite happy with the four dollar tip, and I don't regret it.

I have class in six hours. I miss Wrecking Ball so much it is crazy. I really took seeing him for granted over the break. We would see each other almost every other night. We last saw each other on Wednesday (shortly before I slid to the floor) and we last had plans together on Sunday night. We'll be doing something this weekend, but it just feels so far away.

All night I was wishing he was with me. When I danced with that guy, and when the other guy from the party (who asked me if I was going to fuck the guy) seemed to be flirting with me, I tried to enjoy the attention the way I used to, but it wasn't the same. I didn't care, because they weren't him. (Oh, Cowboy, how I hate to use your words, but even worse, how I hate to understand that flat, empty feeling that is clouding where excitement and novelty are supposed to be.)