Tips for Living Life - Tip 3: Pick Somebody Up... Everyday

I still remember that day. Not the exact date - but the events of that day.

My first day in college.

The first part of freshmen orientation was done, and we had all been sent to have our lunch. I was not really familiar with the Manila area, but I knew there was a mall a short walk from my university. Since I had no friends yet, I decided to take a stroll down to the mall for some lunch.

A few meters from school, an elderly lady blocked my path and stopped me in my tracks.

"I need your help, please", she started to say in a forced American accent.

"I locked my keys in my car and I have no way to get them. Can you please give me P50.00 so i can go home and get my spare keys? Please?" She pointed to a car parked on the side of the road: a sleek black Mercedes Benz.

"Please?" She said. "I pay you two P50.00 when I get my keys from the home. My wallet - it is inside of the car also..."

Dressed in what could only be described as "useful rags" and continuing to jabber on in broken, sometimes undecipherable english, I couldn't seem to get her out of my way.

What was worse was the fact that I did not know how I should say "No" to her. I knew it was a scam - I didn't know how to let her down.

"Please... please... you help me, okay? Please..." she continued.

Suddenly, two men came along side me, one on each side, and in one scoop, they literally picked me up. My feet were off the ground and they held me up by my elbows.

Quickly carrying me past the old scammer, one of them just said "Walang pera 'to..." ("This guy has no money).

A few more feet onwards, my feet were on the ground once more, and the two gentlemen let me go.

My "friendly abductors" turned out to be a couple of my new classmates - blockmates, actually - from school. "Are you okay?" one of them asked in Pilipino. I laughed and said I was, and thanked them for "picking me up" when they did.

"Stick with us - you'll survive Manila if you do" the other one said.

I suddenly found myself with a couple of "friends" to have lunch with.

As I write this now, I laugh at the thought of what would have happened if my friends had not "picked me up" when they did. I would have most probably handed the old scammer a fifty peso note just to get away from her.

Today, I still try to find ways of "picking someone up", be it by encouraging words, a pat on the back, a smile of assurance or by literally "picking them up" when they fall.

It gives me a sense of peace and fulfillment.

And it gives the other person that glimmer of hope that there still exists other people who are willing to give others a helping hand.

Tips for Living Life - Tip 2: Say Goodnight in Prayer

We pray at night.

My wife, my daughter and I.

We gather together and sit on the bed and join each other in prayer.

I lead the prayer, then my wife joins in - and finally our seven year old daughter raises her prayers up last. Then we kiss each other and lay down for the night.

Last night, though was slightly different.

When it came time for Julia Amaris to say her prayer, she started slow.

"Papa God...(pause)...uh...Dear Papa God...(another pause)..."

And then we heard her sniff.

Then she continued her prayer as she began to weep.

"Papa God, please help me to be a good girl to my Mama and Dada..."

She was crying by now, and you could feel the sincerity of her prayer. My wife and I looked at each other as we listened to her prayer.

"...sometimes I am not a good girl... when I do not obey them and do not do my homework or my Kumon."

"Please let me be a good girl because I love my Mama and Dada and they love me..."

Her last words just trailed off as she continued to sob from the heart. I bent over, touched my forehead to hers, and whispered "Amen".

"Amen", Julia Amaris said with a sniff.

I kissed her forehead and lay her down to sleep. She curled up into a little ball beside me and I held her as her crying subsided.

"You're a good girl, Julia", I assured her. My wife reached over to hug her too.

Assured of our love, she fell asleep peacefully.

And so did we.

Tips for Living Life - Tip 1: Wake Up and say "Goodmorning!"

I woke up at around 4:00 this morning to the stirrings of my daughter. For some reason, she was awake early, and she was just tossing and turning in bed.

Sensing I was already awake, she reached over with her right arm and pulled me to her.

"Good morning, Dada..." she whispered in a sleepy voice.

"Good morning Sweetheart..." I whispered back, giving her a kiss on her cheek.

"You're up early... why don't you go back to sleep?" I asked.

"I want to be with you before you go to office" she said.

I hugged her and gave her another kiss.

"You know, this early, we can go watch the sun wake up and say 'Good morning" to all of us. First the sky will be a little red, and then it will become orange and then you will see the sun waking up. Do you want to see it?"

"Yes! Yes!" came the obviously excited reply.

So we both got up and peeked out the window. 'Twas then that I noticed that my wife had already gotten up and out of bed. She wasn't in the room though.

Julia and I stared out the window watching the surroundings slowly but surely brighten up.

"Wow! The sky is becoming red already!" Julia whispered excitedly. "God will say 'Good morning' to us already!"

She watched intently as the skies did brighten up little by little. No, it didn't turn red and then orange and then yellow with the light of the sun - the makings of a low pressure area kept that from happening.

But Julia somehow still saw the very faint hints of red and orange and yellow.

"Dada looooook! It's changing colors alreadyyy! God is awake!"

"Good morning Papa God!" she whispered with a smile.

By then my wife walked in with breakfast. Seeing us both at the window, she asked what we were doing.

"Saying 'Good morning" to the sun and to God" came my daughters' reply.

Everything went on as usual: I took my shower and got dressed for work; we had breakfast together (Julia tipped her plate over and soiled the floor with her food) and then we kissed each other goodbye for the day.

But somehow - and for some specific reason, the day seemed to start off far happier than usual, traffic seemed to be far more tolerable and the entire days' work already seemed to come into perspective that early.

All because of a cheerful and sincere "Good morning, Papa God!"

One Big Happy Family

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I were driving along the Alabang-Zapote Road when we spotted a "street family": a man and his obviously pregnant wife with their three children - one looked like he was around five or six years old, the second around three and the youngest maybe a year old at the most.

From the looks of it, they had been living on the streets for quite some time: dirty, tattered clothes, grimy faces and arms, and well-used cartons sheets on which they were obviously preparing to go to bed on. I had feelings of anger more than pity at what they represented to me: irresponsible parents who knew they had no place to live and hardly any source of income to feed their family, and yet found time and reason to bring fourth another life into their already dreary-world.

But then my daughter's voice brought me back to my senses. In her happiest tone, Julia simply said "Look Dada, they're one big happy family!"

I didn't have much time to give them a second look, but I did see that the two older kids were playing together, while the father gave the youngest a "horsey ride" on his leg. The mother watched the two older kids with obvious enjoyment.

They may not have had what I thought they needed - but at least at the moment I saw them, they had what they wanted: a happy family.

An office mate had earlier asked me how many people live in big houses but have incomplete families? Absentee parents or no parents at all?

I was amazed at the insight of my daughter. Actually, I believe it was more of my daughter's lack of adult insight that made her wiser beyond her years. She didn't see the street family through the eyes of a biased adult such as myself - she saw the happy family through the eyes of a child whose innocence still makes her believe that there is beauty in this dreary world.

No judgment. No hypocrisy. No biases.

Not the faintest hint of sarcasm or pessimism at all.

Just the simple and happy belief that this is still a beautiful world to live in.

I looked at Julia, and she looked straight back at me with the smile created by the scene of that "one big happy family" still radiantly displayed on her face.