Our country, the Philippines, is facing a pandemic problem as our confirmed cases of corona virus infection significantly rose in the last few days alone. The last number I heard yesterday was 49 from only 16. I don't watch news so I hope the numbers did not increase.
In the office, an announcement was made about contingency plan when the seemingly lockdown of Metro Manila will kick off on Sunday, 15 March. I say "seemingly" because it is not total lockdown but with conditions.
In the middle of all these chaos, I was left speechless with awe from what I experienced on this night of Friday the 13th.
I was walking along a footbridge crossing our South Luzon Expressway or the SLEX when I caught up with a little girl somewhere along the middle of the bridge. She was pushing a plastic basket full of what seemed to be zucchinis. She could be four years old.
I towered over her and asked.
"Saan mo dadalhin yan?" Where are you taking those?
"Doon, kay mama." She pointed towards the end of the bridge which I though is about 400 meters long. Across the foot of the bridge that the child pointed to is a line of vegetable vendors along the sidewalk. I thought her mother could be one of them. And yes, they sell even at night because this is when people are going home and would just buy somewhere along the way for dinner rather than going to the market.
"Akin na," I said while bending over. "Give it to me."
I held one side of the basket with my right hand in an attempt to carry it but I was not even able to move it a bit with my initial estimated effort. Darn, it's heavy! I thought it could be around 15 kilograms.
I reached my left hand out to hold the other end of the basket when someone jumped into our conversation.
"Ako na, ako na!" Let me do it, let me do it!
I knew there was someone stopped walking and was watching us while I was talking to the child but I did not expect that he would jumped in. I let go of the basket and stepped aside. He bent to take over. When he moved the basket a little, he exclaimed.
"Naku, mabigat pala talaga!" It's really heavy!
The little girl jumped with joy that I could not find a word to describe it. Without a word, she happily led the way and was way passed by myself as the gentleman followed.
The guy tried to carry it dangling with both hands at first but he immediately adjusted and held on his right. "Yeah, the gravity will be lighter that way," I thought.
I tried to keep up to their pace but the little girl was so fast. She was half running that even the guy tried to catch up. I just followed them with my eyes until they disappeared from my sight.
I wondered how the little girl got the basket up to the bridge. Did a stranger also help her to get the basket up but did not complete the act up to the other end of the bridge?
And how did the child expect to bring the basket down to the other end? Was she relying on passionate stranger to help out too? If a stranger helped to get the basket up to the bridge and the little girl was expecting another stranger to help in going down then that means we have people who are compassionate with strangers. That's restoring faith in humanity!
Without the gentleman, I could have replaced the little girl in pushing the basket because I could not carry it after all. I could feel my heart dancing with joy. I knew it was saying "thank you" to the guy who took over but nothing came out of my mouth. I felt like I was choked. I just thought that God knows what he did and God will take care of him.
Friday the 13th is not scary as others claim it to be. It is actually lovely!
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