Hi everyone! How are you? I hope everyone is doing great today!
For this posting, I will be sharing an unexpected incident that led me to a deeper understanding of certain things. So here's how it happened.
STORY TIME
Every Friday afternoon, my nephew drives and picks me up from the place where I am staying for now. I haven't moved in into the house yet. (If you have time, you can visit this link and read the blog about the house that we struggled to build.) @netswriting/from-renting-a-room-to-owning-a-house-and-everything-in-between
Friday came and my nephew picked me up around 9 in the morning since it was a holiday that day.
While traveling, we enjoyed conversing about random and funny things, not minding the scorching heat of the sun, until we reached a gasoline station.
By the way, my workstation going to our house is an hour drive away. So the tank must have to be filled up. We make sure the gas doesn't reach its minimum bar. I do not know exactly the reason why but we are accustomed to that. And for 5 years now, my motorcycle still functions well as new.
THE GASOLINE BOY REMEMBERED THAT HE FORGOT SOMETHING
When we reached the gasoline station, since I was holding my cell phone during the ride, I eagerly placed it in my jeans back pocket. That was also because I had to get my wallet which is placed in the innermost part of my bag. I gave the 500 peso bill to my nephew as he told the gasoline boy to gas up, worth 100 pesos.
After the amount reflected on the gasoline station screen, my nephew was in the position of giving the money to the gasoline boy but to my nephew's surprise, the boy walked away, heeded to the cashier's area, withdrawed 400 pesos from the cash drawer (four pieces of 100 peso bill) and counted it thrice.
To my greatest shock, he handed me the four 100 peso bills while disregarding the 500 pesos that my nephew handed to him. He left us and served the next motorists. My nephew and I were stunned in disbelief.
Life has been financially challenging us lately and we could have kept the money. It was a free gas up worth 100 pesos and an additional donation of 400 pesos. No store promos could equal that. What a great blessing it was!
But being raised in a family where honesty is not just a must, but a virtue and a responsibility, we had to do what's right.
We are too far from being perfect but absolutely we know the value of every penny earned by hardworking hands. My nephew called the gasoline boy in a voice with moderate volume, enough for the boy to notice us. He came right to where we positioned and my nephew handed the 500 peso bill to him. He was a bit confused and I told him the narrative of what happened minutes ago. He thanked us enormously. He was shocked and when things finally got to his senses, he looked favored and relieved.
STILL ON A RIDE TO REFLECT
My nephew started the motorcycle engine and we conversed about what could have happened if we do the opposite thing. We enumerated the possible consequences while we were entertained by the view that we pass by every week. (Might as well share the view with you.)
And out of nowhere, he then exclaimed that whatever we do to others, it will always come back to us. If we do good, we also attract good things and opportunities to happen.
It was a rare moment to hear something serious and meaningful from him knowing his bubbly and funny personality.
But before I could make an input to what my nephew said, with utmost worry and fear, I remembered my cell phone. Gosh! I uttered, "Where did I place it?" while tapping my forehead. I was uneasy as I was examining my bag, its compartments, and pockets. My nephew started to get alarmed. I was trembling already when I realized that - (long pause) - it was in the back pocket of my jeans. It was an inch away from falling and I was a snap away from losing it. If I was late a second, my cell phone could have fallen on the road and had been crushed by the vehicles behind.
Momentarily, my nephew, in a calm voice told me, "Ate, I told you right? Whatever you do, it will always come back to you. If we did not pay the gasoline and just kept the 500 peso bill, maybe you'd lost your cell phone. You could have lost something valuable, something you invest your resources into, something worth more than 500 pesos."
I was stunned again. It hit me. For a couple of minutes, I was silent.
THE GIST
In life, things happen unexpectedly. What happened was a reminder for me to always uphold the values that my parents instilled in me. We may be challenged by life but other people have been struggling a lot, more than we do. The world has been overpopulated with sighs of desperation, smiles of pretension, and laughter of depression. What the world needs now is a little act of kindness. It is not too much to ask for, is it? We should work hand in hand for humanity to thrive.
And oh, I forgot to mention myself - being careless with things. It is a lesson for me also to avoid misplacing things, unless, I have enough cash bullets to purchase anything I want. Hahahaha!
To sum this up, I agree with what my nephew said. I don't know if what happened was just purely a coincidence or maybe it is a way of the world telling me that this is something I should reflect on in life.
Thank you for your time reading this far. I pray that everyone is safe and well. Until the next writing.
