Pinoy Samaritans

three strangers helped me out to get my car running tonight. and they say you shouldn't talk to strangers.

my car batteries went kaput when i arrived in cebu a bit earlier this evening. first sign was that the key lock doesn't seem to work. i just changed my batteries with a set i placed in storage for almost a year. apparently, you need to "warm up" to get them running.

in any case, three fellows helped. the security guard who went around looking for wires, the starex driver who eased his van towards my car so he can tap his batteries, and another fellow who got singed a bit as he held the wires.

all angels. all unnamed strangers. and to think they didn't want to receive any of the money i was forcing in their hand. they didn't have to help, but they did.

in that moment, i am so happy and proud for the filipino trait of being matulungin. i hope i can repay that kindness in some other way.

Comments

Cacho said…
with ondoy, it made me realize that there are more heroes out there. it is unfortunate that we need to go through a crisis to step up to the challenge.
10:45 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Men and Makeup

nope, this is not another entry about metrosexuals and how the lines have been blurred when it comes to men wearing makeup. i am referring to the local and national election campaign posters plastered all over the country. someone has go to tell these candidates and their stylists that blemish free skin, pouting rouged lips, blushing red cheeks belong to cheeky graduation pictures, or a starlet posing in uno. not the local posters. on second thought, the more senior candidates probably used their graduation pictures, high school pictures mind you. i don't understand why they are afraid to show character with a few elegant lines on their faces. the way botox cleared the expressions, or how photoshop removed all pores from the skin, or how subcutaneous fat seem to have been sucked off from their chins left a very puppet-like look. yup, character, character assassination. combined with exaggerated, toothy grins, some pictures reminded me of joker. not arroyo (one of the few ch
Read more

a most unusual saint

Image
the title Black Magic Mary is enough to conjur images of a witch draped in black robes similar to that of the Virgin Mary albeit with a more sinister aura. in Sta. Maria Church in Siquijor, a saint wearing a black habit holds a skull in one hand and an "inverted cross" in another is fast gaining a reputation that is probably influenced by the mystic history of the island itself. locals have speculated that the skull is actually her husband's and that she murdered her husband for reasons that seems to have been lost in history. a bit of research show that the locals refer to the saint as Santa Rita de Siquijor, probably a Filipino convention where we name the Virgin Mary with annexes related to places (e.g. Our Lady of Guadalupe). my own research led me to discover this particular "myth" in an effort to know more about Santa Rita de Cascia who is the patron saint of a church and town named after her in Pampanga. The first thing that caught my attenti
Read more

the sign

"Lord, give me a sign..." no, i haven't fallen victim to overly melodramatic movie lines. on the other hand, i actually did use these words while attending mass last sunday (Redemptorist, Cebu City). you see, i have been increasingly dissatisfied with matters regarding the church but not necessarily my faith. to a point that i am debating whether i should even attend mass. i was asking myself if i wanted to attend mass given the fact that the church is getting more political. sure, i understand liberation theology and standing up for what is morally right. but that is exactly the same thing that has been bothering me, the moral thingy. the local church is proclaiming that the current administration has no moral leadership. i am not refuting that claim, on the other hand, the church could have said the same thing about itself. except that they rather not comment on anything when it comes to issues facing the institutional church. and there are tons of dirt, make that hun
Read more