that at one time made you smile. It's the pain of losing that person, but the memories that make it worthwhile. In time when we'll all be old, it's the good times we'll never forget, it's the memories we'll always hold. It's the hug that we all need, when we'd rather drown in our sorrow. It's the hope in every one of us, that makes us hold on for tomorrow. But there are lots of things that we have to be thankful for like the accomplishments, the many blessings and to mention also the hardships because they have served to make us stronger. I will marvel God's simple gifts, my family, my children, my friends and all others. Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I will make someone SMILE and I will go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know. I will give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down and I will tell that person how special she/he is. Because all of these are simply the reality of LIFE and I want to live life to the fullest.
In May 18, 2007, I passed a different route from my usual. On my way home…along the way a busy road nearby, I chanced a beggar, a little girl, and very young selling small round rugs for a living. I have met so many beggars in my lifetime. Some would just get your attention because you seem to be well-off, so to speak. Others have heart-breaking stories to move you with so much sympathy. But this little girl really touched my HEART. I bought a couple of her merchandise. It cost only two pesos but I gave her one hundred pesos and I told her to keep the change. I saw her face sparkled and lighted up with a big grin and a SMILE, the most beautiful and warm smile I have ever seen in my entire life as she repeatedly thanked me for what I gave her. As she went along her way and crossed the streets, I saw her went inside Seven Eleven Store and bought some doughnuts. I watched her bring the doughnuts to her family in a corner nearby the streets. From a distance, my eagerness to see her how she shared the doughnuts to the rest of her siblings made me feel elated with JOY. Likewise, the family was also smiling and I can feel their JOY as they partook the doughnuts. There was no commotion, no shouting, and no grabbing but instead there was a lot of giving. They were so happy with so little. I walked and crossed the streets to their direction. I introduced myself and talked to them for a few minutes before I headed home. They were so simple and very warm. They even offered me some doughnuts and I took the smallest munchkin to join them. To tell you, even the doughnut that I usually eat from time to time tasted extra good. I said to myself, “Life is an APPLE"…this is the best day of my life….again. These people were real people. They were sincere with the JOY they shared. They had dignity in their poverty. They had HOPE. They had LOVE and most especially they had GOD. This is just one of my stories and I wanted to share it with you. It touched my HEART and I hope it also touched yours. Everyday as we go about our daily task we encounter a lot of experiences, some would give us frustrations, other would make us upset but only few had left "foot prints" in our HEARTS.Learn to appreciate little things around us because we will never know that one will inspire us in some ways or the other. It did to me. Life is an APPLE, indeed!!!
In one of stormy days of 1986, I was on my way to school where I was a faculty member in the College of Dentistry, when I saw something I’d never seen before. Lying on the sidewalk against a building in four inches of cold muddy water by the drainage was a man sleeping with only a cardboard blanket to keep him from being completely exposed to the freezing cold. What really broke my heart was when I realized that he wore no shoes or socks. I thought to stop and help him but was not quite sure what to do. As the traffic light turned green, it seemed life was demanding that I move along. So I did. Back in the "anything I wanted was mine" environment, I promptly forgot about the man on the street. Several days later, prior to my scheduled classes, I was having coffee and donut in one of the coffee shops. All of the "important" people had left and it was just me and the janitor remaining. I had seen him quietly go about his business every day while I was there, and he never said a word except "Good morning" or "Can I get anything for you, maam?" He always had a smile to give to everyone. When I asked him how he was feeling today, he told me that he’d been having to ride his bike to work in that muddy flood and that he’d been feeling rather sorry for himself. . .that is, until he saw a man sleeping down on the corner of San Rafael Street with just a piece of cardboard for covering from the cold and no shoes. I almost choked on my Donut as I heard him go on to relate how he was so moved with compassion for the man that he went around the corner to a store and bought the man a pair of socks and shoes. As I heard his story, I saw in my mind a poster that used to be in an old friends bedroom when I was a teenager. It was a picture of a child handing someone a flower and the caption read: "The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions." I stood there wishing it was me who had bought the shoes and socks for the man, when I finished my coffee and headed for school. As I got into the faculty room, everybody was rushing to go to their respective classes, except one faculty who was just idle sitting in one corner and asked me to listen to his story. He relayed a story about Mother Teresa, who when asked once how she had accomplished such great things in her life responded, "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love." When I went home that day, I looked for the man on the street. He was gone, but I knew it wouldn't be long before someone took his place.
I hope my personal story will enlighten you as well…God bless and wish you all the best.
