Pay it Forward

Pay it forward

“There are no strangers… Only friends you haven’t met yet!”  By Glenn Bottomly

            After knowing this quotation, I wondered if there are really no strangers, but friends who haven’t met yet. I am still wondering if it is true, but as of now I can say that I believe it because before having a friend we actually meet them and start getting to know each other. After that process, you become friends and as you spend time with each other your relationship is going deeper or you may find someone’s unwanted behavior and that you are to think whether to be a good friend- accept him or a bad friend- turn your back on him.

            “Time in this life is so short. If…I am committed more than ever to reach out in this life and experience what is really important: people. Work will always pile up. E-Mails will always keep coming. Telemarketers will always keep calling. Home repairs will always keep nagging. But, people are irreplaceable.” (Prime Times, Glenn Bottomly, April 2011)

            I got this passage in the internet when I was searching about the first quoted line. After reading its first sentence-“time in this life is so short”, I got automatically interested with this passage. This has a connection with our task (pay it forward). For me, these lines tell us how important people are in this world, how we should work with others, how we can spend our very precious time to our beloved ones and lastly, how we can share our lives to others whom we often referred as strangers.

            In my early childhood life, I can say that I don’t care about the others, all I know is myself, my family, my friends and all of my wants. But as I grew up, I slowly changed my perspective. Now, I want to see what other people do, to hear what they want to say, what they want to happen or to achieve, and to feel what they have experienced in this dangerous and yet marvelous life.

            Paying it forward, a situation I once saw at an early age. My grandmother had her store, she was there marketing her products when a vendor of huge jar- person who brings his jar places to places hoping that someone may buy it, passed by and asked her if he could just trade it for a small amount and a big can of sardines. He added that he wanted to trade it because he worried about his co-vendors waiting in their service and that they were not yet eating lunch in that late afternoon. Out of pity, my grandmother asked the vendor to sit and wait for her. She offered a glass of water and biscuits, she said to the man to wait for a moment. After waiting, a surprise for the vendor my grandmother gave him a plastic which contained plastic of rice, cans of sardines and bottles of water. Happily, my grandmother said to him that the jar seemed to cost higher, so giving those food was a fair exchange. The vendor was very happy and before leaving he said too many thank you to my grandmother for she was also generous and so helpful. That was why I do idolize my grandmother for being so nice to everyone in anytime. And for all of the people around, who taught me the word of being good, helpful, generous and God-fearing- my grandmother did not just teach me about it but also showed it to me with uttering any word, I simply noticed it and felt happiness from it.

            So wanting to help others is also what I want to do. But the newest and the rarest thing that I did was to pay the ride of an old man. Along my way home, walking to the terminal of the tricycles, there was an old man behind me. I knew that he also went there for a ride and that there was only one tricycle, so one should go first and the other should wait. I rode the tricycle first, looking to him while he was talking to the driver about the next ride, I said “Lolo, sakay na din po kayo”. I was so nervous when I said those words. And I also heard the driver said that this young lady always ride the tricycle alone and don’t let others sit beside her. I just thought, sometimes we need to make changes in what we usually do. When we were to go down the tricycle, I said, “ito na po yung bayad…Lolo, bayad na po!”. We walked together in our street and then he said, “thank you!, san ka nag-aaral?”. I said, “sa Miriam College po”. And that was how my time helping him ended.

            In addition to my deed, along Tumana, where my best friend and I were walking, we saw an old lady “taong grasa”. My friend said that she wanted to give the old lady food but she has none, and then I remembered that I had my biscuits in my bag so I immediately get it and gave it to my friend so that she can personally give it to the lady. My friend returned to me and she looked upset. I asked her why and she said that the old lady seemed not to like food but money. I just told her that you gave her food because you think it was what she need but if she didn’t like it, it is not our lost but hers, because food is grace, we need to love it and be thankful for it.

            That situation makes me think, why sometimes helping others and being rejected can make you feel sad. It is maybe because all you want is to help. Sometimes, we also need not just to look but also to hear and to feel the things that really matters.

            I think we should all find courage to help others even they are just strangers because there is still a possibility that you will meet that person again and in unexpected time he’ll give his thanks back to you.

            “Good things happen when you meet strangers” By Yo-yo ma.