No Ordinary Ride

                      Who would have thought that an ordinary taxi ride would turn out to be not so ordinary after all? In fact, it was extraordinary. Yesterday, I mentioned about my experience visiting someone whom I have never even met before in real life who was suffering from Lupus.I forgot to mention that yesterday I also got to learn something very amazing from just riding an ordinary cab with my not so ordinary friends. :) 

                       How many of us have experienced riding a taxi wherein all we could ever think about was reaching our destination in a short span of time as much as possible? How many of us would keep on nagging manong driver to make the car faster as we are gonna be late for work, school, appointments, etc.? How many of us have tried cursing out all the possible curses in the world whenever we get held up by traffic and miss the green signal? Lastly, how many of us have tried turning our heads as if we didn't see anything whenever a street person walks up to our cab, knocking its window, knocking our hearts just for us to spare them a few peso coins? Well, I admit, I have. And I know you do too. In fact, it is never new to see and experience such in our every day lives. We are busy people. We tend to rush to be in such a haste that we forget to see what we should be seeing outside our cabs -- the reality of life.

                      We are fortunate. YOU are fortunate that you get to read this blog entry. Because that only means one thing - you can either afford being in a computer shop or the computer with an internet itself. You have the luxuries of life and yet we still complain about not having enough. How much is enough then for us? Have we ever even thought about that perhaps what we are having now, the things we complain to be not enough for us, may be more than enough for others? 

                     So going back as to why my taxi ride turned out to be not so ordinary, aside from the constant teasing and fooling around inside with my companions, a single stop light made me pause, reflect and totally change my mindset. It was when the taxi stopped from a red signal of a traffic light that ate Lovely spoke. "Ash, you remember about my brother's seminar?" I nodded my head recalling what I've learnt from Jan Hilado's seminar from back then. If you're caught in a traffic light and a beggar approaches your car, be grateful. Because that only means one thing - more blessings are coming your way. Thus, whenever a beggar asks you for alms, give him/her what you have wholeheartedly. Giving your last amount of bill would be better. Because that means you gave what you have left for someone who needed it more than you did. Ate Lovely then shared about how their dad, Tito Tony would call out those beggars who pass by their cars. Because whenever a beggar approaches the first and second car but then passes by yours, that means no blessings will be on your way. Thus, call out that person. Because that person is a blessing sent from God above to see how we are as a person, as a fellow human. It was then that an old, blind lady who was being assisted by her companion came knocking into our cab window and opened up her palms. I was astonished. It was as if right on cue, she came along. We emptied out our pockets for her. We gave her all that we got wholeheartedly. The look on her face was enough of an evidence that she was surprised as if she never experienced being given so much in one cab. She smiled with all her might and just as the traffic signal turned green, she slowly walked away. She left with our heartily given money but she left us with something more than what money could ever give to us - the joy of giving to someone what we have with all our hearts.