Burhan, the beloved bus driver of Give Bus 1, surprised the girls with a handwritten letter:
“As your driver, my responsibility is to take you safely from one place to another. But because of you, this journey has become meaningful for me as well.”
The letter made such an impression that Devora, founder of Meshek 48 Culinary Workshops in Israel, shared it on Instagram with the reflection below:
It is tour-bus etiquette to give the driver of the bus that brings you the group coffee on the house. Some drivers feel entitled and others are grateful. It depends on the group and, truthfully, it depends on the driver.
This week, the driver walks in and over to the counter just as I’m about to start the workshop (I warm up the crowd for a few minutes and then introduce the talent, [her husband] David [smiley face emoji]). I ask the driver if he can wait a few minutes so I can start things off and he readily agrees.
As I come back to make him a coffee, I notice that he is well-dressed for the world that we live in- the world where jeans are acceptable at a wedding and at a funeral. He is wearing a long sleeved, pin-striped, button-down shirt. And he has been driving this group, NCSY Give Bus One, throughout their time in Israel. He tells me he likes dressing well, and he thinks it’s important. I mention that most Friday nights there is a “discussion” in my house about a white button down shirt vs. a v-neck or a button or two and I’m happy to see a button-down shirt on a Monday. We schmooze a bit more and he takes his coffee and heads out.
It was a pleasant exchange and I was impressed with him and mentioned it to the staff. You don’t always luck out with a nice bus driver. Before I’ve even finished talking about the driver, one of the madrichot is pulling out her phone and showing me the handwritten letter that the bus driver wrote, painstakingly, in English, to the girls on the bus. He praises them for being kind. He tells them how impressed he is with them. How much he is enjoying the experience. The letter is long and it is heartfelt.
I just want to put this here, this week, as a reminder that people are good. Because sometimes there is so much noise here- so much anger and so so much intensity- that it can be easy to forget. And as wonderful as the bus driver was, I loved this just as much: for the first time in Meshek workshop history, the group made a focaccia for their bus driver, too.
Kindness, it seems, had been traveling in both directions.
