Sixteen years ago, I learned an important life lesson in the back of a New York City taxi.
One day, I called a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane (车道) when suddenly a black car jumped out of parking space right in front of us. My driver quickly stopped his car and missed the other car by just inches (几英寸)! The driver of the other car turned his head around and started shouting at us! My driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, in a really friendly way. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost hit your car and sent us to the hospital!"
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage-all kinds of bad feelings. As their garbage adds up, they need a place to dump (倾倒) it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street.
Since then I have started to see garbage trucks everywhere. I see the load (负载) they're carrying…I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing；I just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.
