September 18, 2011
God asked me to insert straw on His pack of juice?
I heard people say that God sometimes disguises as a beggar, testing the goodness of the heart of his people. Maybe the belief is biblically anchored for according to the scriptures, God himself said that however you treat the least of your brothers you are doing the same thing to Him.
I am inclined to agree to this belief, highlighting the word SOMETIMES. Beggars are usually ignored but it is interesting to note their varieties. They come from different sizes and ages, from children to the aged, from cripple to blind, from the handicapped to the mentally ill.
It is our routine every Wednesday to attend mass at Santo Niño chapel and have snacks afterwards. More than a couple of handicapped would wait for churchgoers after the mass to ask alms. I never ever dropped a peso to their canisters. Maybe I will donate next time, if I fail to notice their able bodied assistants. Last Wednesday, after the mass and fries, we were strolling on the city sidewalks to digest both the bread of life and the bread of intestines when the boy of about eight years old approached us. He was wearing an oversized shirt/rag that covers down to his knees and appeared to have been deprived of a good bath for a week.
Hypocrisy aside, we would usually shun on the grimy face, but before I could act out the impulse of disgust that my brain dictates the instance the boy extended his hands, I was cut short by the look of innocence when I stared in his eyes. And when I look on his extended arms, he was holding on his hand a pack of juice (Zest-o maybe) and a straw, then he voiced out: “Tito, lihog ko bi tuslok ka straw sa juice.” I was speechless; Kat never said a word either. I took the pack and inserted the straw, with little effort because the straw almost penetrated the pack with his try, and I was thinking he could have made it by his own. I handed him the juice with the straw, he bowed “Salamat”, and took off. Sipping on the juice (or technically on the straw), he ran towards a lady waiting for a ride and harassed her for some money. The lady shunned away from him.
Even on my way home, I was thinking of that happenstance. If God was indeed disguised in that boy, with all His goodness, he never even asked a pack a juice in return to all the gifts He bestowed on me, but instead he asked from somebody else and all He wanted was for me to insert straw on His pack of juice. He never even pestered me for money.
The next day after office, while we were eating in Mang Inasal, a group of boys approached us begging (demanding actually) for “bones”. They were carrying a sack of their “loot”. “ Ngayo kami tul-an kay wala pa kami ka kaon.” Again, we were speechless. But before we could react, two of them tried to grab our food while instructing their comrade, “bantayi ang security!” Good thing, the guard is already coming and the rascals run away, mocking the guard from a safe distance.
I remember the line from the song, “…I look at things from both sides now…” Well, devils can make disguises too.
