My 'aha!' moment

We’ve heard the phrase “aha! moment” so many times that it’s become a cliché. Even Oprah uses this phrase, which was coined by the German psychologist and phenome–nologist Karl Buhler a little over a hundred years ago. He meant it as “a peculiar, pleasure-oriented experience within the course of thought that pops up with the sudden insight into a previously un-transparent context.”

In today’s lingo, we use this phrase when we have a remarkably joyful experience, a moment of triumph, a victorious moment of some sort. Like when a student of law finally passes the bar after flunking it twice before, an alternative medicine practitioner who finally convinces his friends that she is not a quack doctor but that her methods are scientifically proven, a runner/athlete who finally wins the race after losing five times by a millisecond, a ballroom dancer who finally wins first prize in her category after competing for the nth time. What an aha! moment for all of them!

As for me, my moment happened in a manner that I least expected. It did not involve fanfare and no one knew about it up until now that I am sharing it.

Early this year, friends Rene Puno and his wife, Ann, invited a group of us to lunch at Azuthai Restaurant on Pasay Road in honor of Nancy Harrington, who, together with her husband, Dan Harrington, founded Books for the Barrios in the early ‘80s, when they were based in Subic Bay. During the lunch, Nancy talked about her foundation and the way it has benefited millions of poor Filipino children all over the Philippines, children who live in the remotest barrios, the poorest of the poor who cannot afford to be educated. We hear about foreigners like this couple who do a lot of charity work while they are based in the Philippines. But after they leave, the Philippines is only remembered by them when they look in their scrapbooks. Not so with the Harringtons. This couple truly is making a difference in the lives of millions of poor Filipino children because even after they left the Philippines and retired in Walnut Creek, California, they continued their Books for the Barrios program. In fact, they even made it bigger by involving their American neighbors, book suppliers, and volunteer teachers to donate books and their time to our poor children.

I was very impressed with the Harringtons’ advocacy that I wrote about them in my Savoir Faire article Feb. 7, 2009. The article elicited a lot of response. It served as an eye-opener and stirred a lot of interest in the Harrington’s foundation. I heard that civic worker Dee Zobel, after reading my article, met with the Harringtons’ and committed to build a library in Calatagan, Batangas, and in reviving the training program (which Nancy had to stop because of financial constraints) of the local teachers by bringing in the volunteer teachers from the US to the Philippines.

Other newspapers also got wind of my article and Nancy H. is now being interviewed and featured in other publications and their stories will surely arouse more interest in the Books for the Barrios Foundation.

During a dinner meeting with Anne and Rene Puno at my home one week after Valentine’s Day, Anne handed me a basket with a pretty, heart-shaped box sitting on it with a red ribbon. A pretty Hallmark card had a touching note inside, “with our deepest thanks for all your help” signed by Books for the Barrios USA, and Manila.

The Punos urged me to open the box and I jokingly told them that if it contained my favorite chocolates, I would not share it with them.

The box contained hundreds of letters from different children aged five to 12, written on different colors of paper with drawings, cut works of hearts, flowers, pets, etc. I decided to read them privately, which was a really good decision because I broke down after I read them.

The letters contained happy Valentine wishes, and they thanked me for helping their cause. They gave me an update of their progress in school, the names of their teachers, what grade were are in, etc. All the letters were in English, with very few grammatical errors, and impressively in very neat handwriting, especially from the older ones. Some of them invited me to visit their school and some said they loved me from the “bottom of their hearts.” Even the hardest of hearts would have been touched by their letters.

This was my aha! moment, which I would like to share with all of you. Now I know for sure that when you shift your paradigm to what you can do for others, you begin to accelerate your own spiritual evolution and trigger a bounty of blessings from other souls who want to reach out as well.

After receiving the heart-shaped box, my daily consciousness revolves around this question, “What will I do today to help someone? ”

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For interested donors, call 638-5132, e-mail libroparasabarrio@yahoo.com.ph or booksforthebarrios.com. or deposit to any Metrobank branch, Acct. Name is Books for the Barrios or Libro Para Sa Barrio Foundation Pilipinas Inc.