The Meter

“You’re not gonna run the meter while I go in the store are you?”

My passenger inquired.

“What do you tell your boss when he asks you to punch out and work off the clock for free?”


I asked him and explained
“The meter is a cab driver’s time clock and you’re my boss.”

He didn’t say anything,

And I told him that I would give him

Two free minutes,

Before I’d start the meter.

At $40.00 per hour,

That amounts to about $1.32

That I’ll lose,

But then what the heck.

In Luke 6:38,

Where another account of

Jesus’s “Sermon on the mount”

Is documented,

With variations from that found

In the Gospel of Matthew.

I think an exact quote would

Be more appropriate

Than a paraphrase.

“didote, kai dothesetai umin metron kalon pepiesmenon….”

Basically what the Greek translates to

In English is

“Give and it shall be given to you, good measure pressed down….”

Remember that two thousand years ago

In fact

Even a hundred years ago

Civilization was agrarian

With food production

A top priority.

Before there was money

There was bartering

Before there were credit cards

There was gold

Everything was measured by weight

Or volume

A light weight

Or

A watered down volume

Was the epitome

Of evil.

I was ready to start the meter

When my passenger

Came running out of the store

Yelling

See I told you

I’d be quick

When we got

To his destination

He gave me a

Five dollar tip

And told me

That he didn’t

Know that cab drivers

Didn’t get an hourly wage.