“I am grateful that you have chosen to tread the straight path with us, the path that leads to human development and ultimately to national progress. Thank you for making the world a better place, one hour at a time,” the President added.--President Noynoy Aquino

GIVING
By: Iris P. Concepcion

The President of the Philippines delivered this in a caucus concerning a private funding for children. The organization aims to help destitute kids in their educational travails, this quest for knowledge as they discover the world of amazing possibilities that could mold them as productive citizens of this country.

I have seen the film Happyland and saw how the greased children of a slum ghetto had received a box filled with shoes from one kindly Father who sprung out the gift out of nowhere. The amount raised for this noble cause (staggering amount) could easily finance the sporting aspirations of these kids. When I saw the director of the film blinking and holding back his tears when the film closed in its world premiere showing, I felt for him.

I likewise received a message that divulges much of how we see the world differently:

"One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip. He wanted to show him how poor someone could be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family. On the way home, Dad asked: How did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?

Son said: We have one dog, they have four. We have a pool, they have rivers. We have lanterns at night, they have stars. We buy food, they grow theirs. We have fences and walls to protect, they have friends. We have encyclopedias, they have bibles.

Then the boy added: Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are. It is not about money that puts you to riches. It is about simplicity in having GOD in your life."

I am grateful this year for the gift of people who had taught me how to delimit anxieties and worries through their wonderful wisdom. I had been brought to people who need more help than the nightly alcoholic habitues who precariously need affirmations of their dramatic selves (how little and small their priorities are, and how terribly off-balanced). If someone could not afford to be decent, then, at least, there is this desire to change the myopic and selfish mindset of bruised egos that had known only abandonment, abuse, mistress/wife-beating and control all their life.

A wonderful man I had encountered, the cornerstone of this blog for years, calmed my spirits when I confessed one time: people had been clipping me for a Grinch Christmas. I realized, it could be the most meaningful that I may spend in my entire lifetime. He itemized the priority places. He listed them as follows:

1.) Orphanage
2.) Do A Fun Thing

Simply put. He then outlined a dateline for it: one week for raising money, one week to spend it meaningfully, one week to pursue a writing of choice.

I never could understand why he could simplify even the most difficult tasks so easily: if you see structures that had been finished silently like some silent magician had built them, you see his hand as part of it. He never stresses himself out; he gives me good music; he comforts me in a totally different manner of protection that never knows abuse nor dominance.

It is irksome too that he manages to look good even after all these harrowing activities.

Faith in humanity takes a long leap to cling to. Daily, he teaches me things so different from his life of affluence.

He asks me for tips on how to implement things; what could be improved on. I do the rough drafts--they immaculately appear in beautiful things along the roads where I pass months after. I sometimes weep when I see them (slides can be emotional); I sometimes laugh (City of God graffiti) and I say thank you.