It’s Halloween. And to put in the perspective of a Christian, specifically a Filipino one, today is All Saints Day; the day allotted by the Catholic Church to revere the thousands of saints there is. I’d bet my life to who so ever can name every saint the church has canonized. There are the saints, the blessed, and whatever label they put before every name they thought will sanctify those who hoist silver-coated crosses. Enough of these, and let me condescend back to what this entry is all about.

It’s around 4:30, +/- 5 minutes, and I got hungry and decided to buy cheeseburgers. Cheeseburgers here are sold cheaply at 31 pesos, lavishly, you get one for free. I don’t know what they put in their patties, nor am I interested. As long as it’s palatable, it suits me just fine. I ordered for one pair of cheeseburgers, and suddenly an old lady, in here late 60’s or so, asked for something. I was waiting for my change so I could at least give whatever change I have. I did not bring enough, so I could not give her more than her due. I sulked in the corner, watched those who finished buying if they would give something, whatever they have, no matter how small, to that old lady who clamors to keep her sanity. But no one did. I overheard a group, and realized they just visited their dead loved ones. It wasn’t eavesdropping, since their voices out-voiced even the roaring engines. They spoke of pity, of salvation, of religion, of God, but when they were handed out their change of coins, they ignored the old lady who spoke of pity, of salvation, of living. I realized no one was going to give her anything. People are too occupied with practicality and selfish predispositions nowadays that they tend to ignore that lives connect in invisible strands. What you do tends to substantially affect others. And by ignoring a hungry old lady, you make her hungrier. We can’t save everyone, that’s just too idealistic. Even Frazier’s utopia fails to do so. But what we can do is affect those close to us, and no matter how small that action is, it will resonate. I decided to buy 4 cheeseburgers, and gave the old lady two of them.

I’m a conceited simpleton, a selfish moron who knows nothing about austerity. I lavish on what I have as of the moment, and I tend to waste resources on useless nothings. I, at times, steal, to satisfy a fleeting desire. Lie to receive an increase in daily incentive. And persuade, get the sympathy of, just to place myself in a predicament where I do not have to be niggled about everyday hook-ups. Simply put, I’m a human being. Not to smudge a human being’s integrity with malevolent blames, I’m just being blunt. But when I see someone whose plight is something I do not want to be in, I crack. When I see an old lady ask for something she cannot possibly obtain, and I can, I bend. When I see a little kid who sings jingles in moving transportation just to have something to satisfy himself, I empty my pockets for coins and give it to them. When I see pre-pubescent to pubescent children groping their way in jam-packed jeepneys, and start to rap, I smile in awe and reward their efforts. For whatever purpose they have in wanting to have something in order to attain another thing, be it for food, for water, for medicine, or for drugs, they do it to satisfy a need, a want, or a desire. We just can’t stereotypically put them in a category just because they don tattoos, loose shirts, dirty jeans, and worn-out slippers. They do it to satisfy themselves; how does that make them different from us? I’m going to cut to the chase; people die from our apathy, from us not caring, from us thinking that ends do not justify means. Just because we lie, we steal, we cheat does not make us apathetic and selfish. Let’s forget the titular incentive of Saint. As long as we breathe air, we can make a difference, and apathy will not bring us there. Sometimes, if you look at other perspectives, the end far outweighs the means. I’m not promoting lying, stealing, or cheating. Those are just verbs that are holding us back (at least I’m speaking on my own behalf). What I’m promoting is we take action. In our own little, secret ways, we give a hungry person a chance at life. In our own contrivance with the invisible world, we offer an addict an option. In our own deliberate conviction, we refuse becoming one of the apathetic. We care, and sometimes, that is exactly what’s holding us back.

Recent statistics show that 925 million people do not have enough to eat. And in 5…4…3…2…1…A child just died from hunger, just because some of us thinks that helping a vagabond would directly predict their becoming dependent from beggarship. We think just because we offer to give some coins, we give these people fishes instead of trying to teach them how to fish. Perhaps we might want to wake up. These beggars, more often than not, do their beggar things in cities where nobody (I’m quite sure) knows how to fish. Sarcasm aside and moving on, we think that because we put them in a situation where they can depend on people who feed their mendicancy, they refuse to look for jobs that might sustain their subsistence. Perhaps (again) we might want to wake up. They cannot land jobs! They’re too, for lack of an inspiring term, beggar. What they do relies solely on what they are capable of giving, which is corporately and industrially nothing. They cannot find jobs because no one will give them one. Now where is the humanity in trying to legitimize our claim that by giving something to them will ultimately lead them to depend on us? Where is the rationality in trying to justify our own indifference with such inhumane claim? Where is the humaneness in not wanting someone to become dependent to us? Where did all those church teachings in helping go? Questions we tend to ponder often, but refuse to heed just because we care too much we tend to forget that IT IS NOT ENOUGH.

We depend on something. Humans depend on air, on food, and nowadays, on money. Little kids depend on their parents for care. College students depend on their parents for money, for attention, and for understanding. Adults depend on loved one for sanity. How are these people, who die a slow death from hunger, different from anybody else? Just because they do not own branded clothes, just because they walk miles and their feet coated in dust, just because they ask those who can afford, does not make them less of a human being. They can die of hunger, just like you, just like me. They can die because nobody can act on the care they feel when they see one. They die just because we refuse to go beyond ourselves. Now I say screw those beliefs that we are not helping them when we offer something to them. Throw those beliefs that we are doing more harm than more good when we give our spare change to them. Our means may seem unjustifiable, but the ends render those irrelevant. Nail justice on a cross. Society has been preaching it, but you see injustice wherever, whenever. What else can we do to those who suffered the sharp end of injustice than an act of injustice itself? Let’s stop pretending that we don’t care. We do. Let’s stop wearing a façade of toughness, because every 5 seconds, a child dies. Let’s stop the entire pretense that we are fortunate, for we never are and never will be. For as long as we live and many others die, we lose a part of ourselves. For as long as we breathe air, we breathe the essence of those who died because of our inaction. For every time we stop to think that we care, someone is slowly dying. Let us not stop in thinking that we care. We care for a reason, and that is because we know we can do something. In the littlest of the ways we know how, we nudge the seemingly immovable paperweight of apathy. Little by little we can make a difference; one good deed for one person at a time.

And as you read this, 86 children just died from hunger. There are so many things we can do to prevent another one from dying and starting in our community is advisably the starting point, specifically those who ask us in the daily walks of our lives. How can we possibly miss those people? They’re there, trying to catch our attention, and just because we are too embarrassed to help them, we leave one biting our dust. One good deed at a time; make sure we etch that permanently into our brains. And by the way, another 5 children just died. Stop the bleeding! Don’t stop to just caring. One good deed does make a difference. Make sure you refuse to become infected with the resilient apathy. (Another 2 just died).