Where can we find a friend?
One morning, I was riding on a tricycle in going to school from the barrio. The tricycle I was in stopped to pick an ill-clad and ill-nourished grade schooler holding in her clenched fist two five peso coins just enough perhaps to pay her one way transportation in going to school. When I looked at her secretly through the front mirror, she seemed to have cried a little. When I got off from the tricycle, I paid for two, so she could have the two five peso coins for her transportation in going back home.
We must give. We must understand without judging. A teen ager who got unwanted pregnancy would perceive of aborting the baby because of shame she would cause the family; a jobless desperately in need of money in order to bring his wife to the hospital could get the money he needs by the use of force or even by killing; a hopeless man could get a hostage , threaten to blow a hand grenade and hurt his victim if his needs are not met. Anyone desperately in need of someone to listen to and understand him can easily become a suicidal prey. Precious lives are wasted into nothing because we lack something – that of being a friend to these poor, silently struggling souls.
Many have closed their eyes to the world and sought refuge to the world of isolation; many have chosen to substitute the primary need of men which is food to prohibited drugs; many have chosen to stay behind bars or prison cells in exchange for a more descent life for their loved ones; many went beyond the limits of the law because of poverty. Snatching, robbery, car napping, drug pushing, illegal logging and illegal fishing . These heinous crimes hinder the economic and political progress of a nation. We know as a fact that such acts could be motivated by a man’s selfish interest. But some do it because of our failure to become a friend to them.
With these things that are happening everyday, shall we just shrug our shoulders, fold our fingers, oblivious of what’s happening and do nothing? If we give a listening ear and a helping hand to them, we don’t only tell the world of His love, we are actually giving the world His love.
By: Mrs. Editha T. Sulangi | T-III | Emilio C. Bernabe High School | Bagac, Bataan
