Who Is Your Invisible Friend?

The teacher looked gratefully at the only student who had attended the adult university that Friday . Since she had retired, she had enjoyed teaching emeritus classes to people who had never had access to philosophy.

That afternoon of torrential rains, of the dozen students who followed his classes, only Abel had entered the classroom, an old taxi driver who five years ago had given the car and the license to his eldest daughter. Abel looked, embarrassed, at the empty seats and tables around him.

“Looks like we’re alone,” he whispered, suspecting the class would be suspended.

“I’m sorry, but I have to contradict you, Abel,” the teacher replied. Even if you are the only student who has come, if I left right now and left you in the classroom, you would not be alone. There is someone else.

Abel was speechless at first, but finally asked:

“You mean there is a spirit here?” The presence of someone who lived a long time ago?

“If there was someone like that, I doubt I’d be able to perceive it,” she replied. In my opinion, only those who are convinced of their existence see ghosts. And I don’t even know if there is life after death.

“I understand,” Abel said, delighted to be able to debate with the teacher. What does he mean then that there is someone else?

“If I leave you just ten minutes, which is what I’m going to do, you might meet your invisible friend. “

The taxi driver opened his eyes, trying to understand what the teacher was referring to, who continued:

“This invisible friend is always with you, even if you often don’t realize it, because of the noise and distractions of the world.” Will you dare to look for it, when I go down to the canteen to look for two coffees? Today I invite you to reward your attendance.

“Of course I will dare,” he said gratefully. And, reluctant to talk to the teacher, he asked her:

“But can you give me any more clues?”

“Yes, that friend follows you everywhere to comfort you, even if you can’t see it.”

“Is he then a kind of doctor?”

“Something like that …” she replied proudly of her student. Now I leave you for a moment meditating on this question: Who is that invisible friend who never leaves you?

With that said, he left the class. Abel felt uncomfortable, like when he was punished as a child for not attending the teachers.

Taking a deep breath, he realized that he no longer heard the roar of the rain.

The storm was over.

Suddenly a calm unfamiliar to him assailed him. He thought that in his almost half century of driving the taxi, he had very rarely enjoyed a moment like this. When I was not talking to the client, a driver would appear who would lose his temper and start screaming.

Back home, exhausted from so many hours behind the wheel, his wife had things to tell him and his three children asked him to help them with their homework. When he was older, he had made them all taxi drivers to carry out their moves.

He had been happy, but the placidity he felt now was different.

In the midst of these thoughts, the teacher returned with two coffees with milk. Abel thanked him as he took his in his hands.

So, she asked:

“Have you already discovered who your invisible friend is, the one who accompanies you everywhere, even if you don’t realize it, and calms your soul?”

Abel smirked and replied:

“Yes, it is silence.”