From the Chicago Dispatcher, June 11, 2008
Cabbie of the Month
"He Gave Me Back My Faith in Humanity..."
Ibrarul Haq is restoring the public's faith in cabdrivers, one passenger at a time
By: Jonathan Bullington
The following letter was originally sent to Chicago's Department of Consumer Services by Elizabeth Evans:
One evening in February, I stood freezing in the snow outside of Macy's trying to hail a cab. A cab pulled up and took me to my destination, which was home. I walked in and was going through mail when I realized that my engagement ring was missing!!! I immediately started to panic. I had no idea what cab company I used, the cab number, the driver's name; I had nothing but an empty engagement ring finger. How could this happen and what did happen? I could only guess that the ring slipped off in the cab - there was no other explanation. Frantically, I ran outside where he dropped me off and looked for the ring in the snow, crying my eyes out. HOW DO YOU LOSE A DIAMOND RING? I was a mess for days over this - it was such a sentimental treasure to me. I sat for hours calling every cab company and talking to lost and found departments telling them my sob story and leaving my name and number.
Everyone I told the story to said to just give up; if the cabdriver didn't take it, then the next patron would have for sure. I couldn't give up. I prayed to Saint Joseph to help me find it, and I prayed that the one who found it was a good and honest person. I held onto hope that whoever had my ring would get it back to me somehow.
Well after two months I started to waiver and slink over to the side that maybe people aren't good, maybe people aren't honest, maybe people lack a conscience and maybe the person who found my ring was that type of a person.
Two months after I lost the ring, I got a call from Dan, the president of Yellow Cab Company, who left a message and as I listened, I cried and a rush of thankfulness, belief and faith filled my body. The cabdriver, Ibrarul Haq, found my ring and turned it into the lost and found. There is no way to thank him for giving me my ring back, but even more important is he gave me back my faith in humanity, and that I also cannot thank him enough for.
Ibrarul, thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are truly a wonderful, honest and admirable man and I will never forget what you have done for me.
It was particularly cold, Ibrarul recalls of that evening in February when he picked up Ms. Evans. Actually, the cold is one of the few things he can still remember from that ride.
“She had groceries in her hand,” he could recall, which, he speculates, could have caused her ring to fall. It wasn't until he was opening his cab door for another passenger that he noticed Ms. Evans' ring shining on the floor, like a beacon calling to him.
At first inspection he thought the ring might be fake. “Who would leave this?” he thought. Yet, after conferring with his passenger, he determined the ring probably was expensive. Once back at Yellow Cab, he brought it to their lost and found.
It was about two months later when he got a call from Yellow Cab employees Tracey Chapman and Sabih.
“At first I thought I had forgot to pay my lease,” Ibrarul joked. They told him of Ms. Evans' letter and her reward - $100. Though appreciative of the reward money, Ibrarul said the real reward was in doing the right thing.
“It makes me feel great,” he said of hearing Ms. Evans' remarks in her letter. “I'm not perfect - nobody is - but I try my best.”
What's apparent about Ibrarul from meeting and speaking with him is that he really does try his best - to be a good cabdriver and to be a good person. This is not the first time Ibrarul has found and returned lost items in his cab. Keys, umbrellas, cell phones, credit cards…he once found a digital camera (one of those professional ones) left by a wedding photographer and drove all the way back to the wedding, the second he found it, to return it, in time, to its owner.
“I thought the wedding would be ruined without it,” he said.
His kindness and thoughtfulness isn't reserved only for the passengers in his cab. When Ms. Evans personally contacted Ibrarul to give him an additional reward of $500, he reluctantly, but appreciatively, accepted the reward - and then turned around and gave it to struggling family and friends in Pakistan.
For all his qualities, Ibrarul is a humble man. He timidly agreed to be interviewed for this story, saying he didn't want to boast about his deeds. Yet he did think new drivers could learn from his experiences.
“Honesty is the best policy,” he said. “Nice things will come back to you when you do the right thing.”
For all the comments and negativity on this site, you all should read this story and learn how a cabdriver, how a human being, should act.
Wonderful story about a wonderful man. I hope I can teach my children to act this way. I hope cabdrivers will follow this man's example.
Faarax J.
Nice comment Faarax J. Doesn't it just say it all that all people want to talk about are bad things? It's a shame that only one person had a comment on such a beautiful story about a beautiful person.
