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.