Little Miracles

Just wanted to share this story with you. I hope it inspires people to keep working on their dreams, and at the same time be proof that there is still genuine goodness in the world. 

A couple of months ago, I received a forwarded email from one of the e-groups I’m part of.  It was an appeal to help out this batchmate who wanted to go to Barcelona for a Youth Festival. Usually, that kind of mail would go straight to the recycle bin, but as I read on, the more I got enthralled. Here’s a girl who was so determined on going to a festival that she had come to a point of asking people to give her Php300 in exchange for any good deed. I silently told myself, who would give her 300 anyway. Among her conditions were: 1.) deed should not go against any law 2.) it should be achievable to accomplish within a day, and so on. I forget the others, but it certainly got me interested. The next thing I know, I was emailing her telling her I wanted to help. I had only one request in exchange for that Php300 – that was, to hand it to her personally and get to chat with her about this dream of hers.

Of course I was skeptical at first especially since my mom didn’t know I was meeting up with a complete stranger.  We met at a food court in one of the busy cities, (and I like how my friend puts it), ‘so that I’ll have a lot of running space just in case she turns out to be a monster’. But turns out, she’s this really nice girl – a familiar face I usually just pass by in the university campus. She told me that she needed to raise Php60,000 by the end of July and I met up with her a week before that deadline. I then asked her, “How will you be able to raise enough money in time? It’s just a week before your deadline!” She gives me a smile and tells me, “Actually, I have the complete amount already.” And she shows me this long list of everybody who helped her, all their names, contact numbers, along with the good deeds they asked her to do. Some asked her to give a talk in a Bible study, I saw one say “treat a hungry street child a really good meal”. The list went on…

I was left at awe. Several realizations came to me. I realized how trusting Filipinos are. For one thing, people kept helping her not knowing who she was and if she really was going to use that money for that trip. For another thing, it took a lot of trust from Pia herself. Most of the people who opted to help and meet up with her were people she didn’t know – most weren’t even from our school. But then I realized, this world has made us all jaded to think that man is generally bad and evil. That day gave me enough hope and it sustained the idealism I had for the people of this world.  The older people she talked to, said she had a crazy idea and it would never work. I thought to myself, it’s probably true that the older you grow, the more close-minded you get. The youth are mostly the ones open to new ideas, adventures, and because of this, they become more creative in their endeavors. Handing her that Php300 made me feel I did my own good deed as well. And hell, it felt good. Sure, she had a crazy idea, but this very same craziness gave inspiration to all, I included. More than anything, this gave hope to many that you can get to your dreams with a lot of openness, faith, and a tinge of creativity and imagination.

PS. Just a side story: A couple of years back, I lost a pair of earphones at school. I was desperate to find it especially since this was specifically made for my dad’s digital camera. I inquired and even searched the net if there was a similar pair I could buy, but to no avail. In sheer desperation, I emailed all the school e-groups I had and asked for help. Someone replied and described to me a pair of earphones she had found. That was it! Since we didn’t have a common schedule, she just let her friend meet up with me to hand me the pair. It was unfortunate that I wasn’t able to thank her personally, but I finally had the chance. As I added my name up to that long list of names Pia had, she remarked, “Your name’s familiar, you’re the girl who lost her earphones, right? …I was the one who found it!” It felt good returning the favor to her J