A Ride-Share Driver Honoring Someone He Lost

While searching for a blog post that I had written, I stumbled upon a journal entry from 2018. The entry recapped a ride-share that I experienced on my last night in Charleston, SC. My evening ended with dinner with a mother-daughter duo that were taking the same walking tour as myself. Afterward, I ordered what I hoped would be a safe, and quick ride back to my hotel.

My driver arrived in a sporty, red car, with an enthusiastic smile. It had been a long weekend, and I didn’t really feel like conversing. However, in an attempt to be polite, I asked the driver how long he had been out that day. It turned out that he started driving early that morning. By the time I was in his backseat, it had been about a 12 hour day for him. He went on to explain that he started driving with a ride-share company after his identical twin was killed by a drunk driver. A former military man, he decided to become a ride-share driver as a way of helping someone else avoid driving drunk. I found his decision to find a sense of purpose or meaning from such a tragic event, to be incredibly inspiring. As someone who has also experienced loss, emotions are easy, meaning is not. Some people might argue that ride-share services only keep drunk drivers off the street, when the inebriated person chooses to use one. While that’s true, I’d like to think that ride-share companies are creating more alternatives to someone who is drunk. The creation of ride-share car-pooling, which decreases the fare amount, has made it even easier for people to decide not to drive after drinking. The bottom line is, I think this man’s decision is an amazing way to honor his brother, and a great way to help prevent another family from experiencing the loss that he did. It takes a special type of person to use their grief and loss as fuel to create something better. This man went from serving his country with honor, to honoring his brother with every drive.