I have met four beautiful individuals last week that brought me to a big awakening. One is someone who according to him did not have a family and did not belong to any. When he was a kid, his parents left him. His other siblings had their own lives and so at a young age he had to work from one employer to the next in order to survive. He was able to graduate in high school and had the chance to apply for the Philippine Military Academy. He did not make it in a certain part of the screening when he was asked about his family. He claimed he was rejected due to his family background.
Now, he is residing with a pastor’s family that has 8 children. He cannot really ask for financial assistance since according to him the pastor has just passed away and that the wife now serving as lady pastor (don’t have the opposite word for Pastor hehe) is taking care of everything in the family. He just have to contain himself with having a place to sleep at night …a shelter while assisting the church.
Since he is currently on training for a simple job, he had to walk back and forth surviving day after day sometimes without lunches and sometimes without all the meals of the day. Wow…I was so heartbroken when I saw his black shoes cut half way underneath (I was on the verge of crying).
Another one that moved me to tears was an adolescent that came from a family of 10. Minus the parents, she has 7 other siblings. When she was a kid, she was able to witness her drunkard father, battered her mother with all of them children witnessing it. She also saw how her father hit their mother with a hammer on the head in the middle of the night (father was very drunk). During such incident, all of them children were driven away by their father in the middle of the night. They all walked barefoot in one of the bridges in Bukidnon with their youngest brother being carried by their eldest brother. All of them left the house with empty stomach (they did not have dinner since there was nothing to cook).
And so they went to a friend of the family, knocked at the door the wee hour of the morning and ate their very late dinner and very early breakfast (tears fell heavily while this young lady recounted her story).
Another bright young lady shared how she was forced to work since she lost her scholarship. She did not want to stop her studies. She is trying to squeeze herself so as to finish in two years. By then she will be able to support and send her younger sister who has speech impediment but with a normal brain capacity. She does not want to impede her younger sister from such opportunity for the love and concern she has for her.
The fourth one started at 7 years old to work with a well off neighbor. She had to since, her father’s earning as simple laborer at the port carrying luggage for passengers could not financially support the family (mother is not working). She may feel so secure with herself being able to eat complete meals everyday but she cries over the reality that her parents can hardly buy rice and viand for the entire family. Currently, she keeps other part time jobs, too, folding clothes at another neighbor or taking care of a small store of another neighbor.
Obviously, you are able to see the commonalities of the four individuals’ stories that I am relating here. They are all poor. Money is important to them. They want to eat, go to school and work to support their families. They value so much their families that drive them to strive harder. Unlike the first one, though he values so much family, what he needs right now is the money to survive at least to eat and fare to stop walking to and from work.
What am I sharing this for? I just want to tell you that at times when I complain about a lot of things in my life or when I tend to see only myself or when I feel that life’s challenges seem so overwhelming already, I am reminded that there are those that face more challenges than I am and are able to survive.
Another thing that’s common with them? They did not give up. That’s why I would always say that there are a lot more reasons to be thankful for with life than being consumed with my selfishness.
These beautiful individuals keep on reminding me to stay on the ground…live life …share …simplify…and be more grateful to God…
And so if you want to be in touched more with yourself and find God more in you…you may talk to any of those individuals that never give up with life.
They can give you a whole bunch of life’s most basic lessons..:-)
So have fun…learning with them ok :-)
