Good Deeds

Recently, we hear news about the heroic deeds that some of our fellowmen do - taxi drivers surrending left baggages of passengers, police officers giving back lost money to its owners, children going out of their way to return stolen items to their worried owners, etc. Yesterday, Maalaala Mo Kaya reshown the story of Keybird Padilla of Cebu. He chased a snatcher just so he could be imprisoned and the earring he stole could be returned to its owner.

Keybird back then was only 10 years old. He is the child of this new generation who, despite poverty, remained kind and speaks from the heart with intelligence. Because of his act of bravery, he was praised by the government and was granted high school and college scholarships. Not only that, his mother was given a permanent job.

Good deeds are hard to come by these days in a world full of hatred and cynicism. Sometimes, even the smallest courtesies are forgotten like saying thank you whenever another passenger hands out your fare to the driver, giving your seats to old people, handicapped or pregnant women, helping children or old people in crossing the streets, etc. These gestures, simple as they may be, go a long way. Sometimes I wonder, would it be so freaking hard to acknowledge the greeting of a security guard or sales person who greets you whenever you enter their store? You need not greet them back if you don't want to but a simple nod or a smile would do. It would help them in continuing doing their job well and will also make them feel good that their work is being acknowledge.

Just two weeks ago, I received a good deed from a stranger. She saw that I was having trouble in carrying my bag so she helped me carry them till I reached the end of the stairs. While she was doing such, I had doubts in my mind. Was she for real or she wants something back? But then, after I said my thank you, she just went with her own business. It made me feel glad that there are still people like her who would do simple acts of kindness just for the sake of helping people. You see, my worry these days is that people might have the wrong notion of "helping" and "doing what is right". If you have noticed, most heroic deeds done by the people I mentioned above were given compensations particularly money. I hope that people, in general, would realize that those rewards were mere bonuses of what they did. It doesn't necessarily follow that you get rewards instantly whenever you do a good deed. Sometimes, you'd get them when you least expect it or when you badly need it. That's the way karma goes. Helping should be done for the sake of helping one another and not because you want something in return.

Speaking of good deeds, GMA 7 showed one of the greatest deeds in the world done by a Filipino (for the Filipinos) who was Dr. Jose Rizal. He had given his life so that Filipinos would be free from the hands of the Spaniards. His death brought the revolution against the Spaniards led by another hero, Andres Bonifacio. Incidentally, Jose Rizal is also one of the greatest movies Filipino movies ever made! It is well-researched, well-written, well-directed, and well-acted. I only get to appreciate it more when I taught the subject Rizal to my college students. I believe that they, too, enjoyed it under my helm, especially with the bits of infos that I shared with them. Everyone was so keen in listening especially when the topic was about Rizal's love life. Back in college, our teacher didn't talk about him outside the book we were using so it wasn't that interesting to me. It was only when I learned his human side that I get to adore him even more. (I'll post some interesting tidbits about him here soon.)

Because it is one of the greatest Filipino movies ever made, Jose Rizal needs a DVD treatment. It rightfully deserves such! As of the moment, copies of this movie is out of stock. It was only on VHS and VCD. (I had to convert my VHS copy so that I could let my students watch the film.) I hope that in time, we get to see and own it on DVD because it truly deserves to be part of someone's movie collection!

Meanwhile, on Star Movies, The Passion Recut was playing. The death of Christ is the ultimate good deed of all! Jim Caviezel gave one of the most heartfelt performances of Christ and the movie itself veered away from the usual Passion of Christ movies ala The Last Temptation of Christ.

These two movies are fitting indeed for Good Friday.

Amen to God.


Other readings:
Councilors hail Keybird Padilla as a hero
Kindness of strangers rewards boy hero
Boy hero among Cebu honorees at rites today
Boy hero gets citation from city government