Nine-year-old Kathlene Taypin was probably too young to think of rewards when she and her classmates returned P50,000 in cash that they stumbled upon at the Malhiao Elementary School in Badian town. Honesty, after all, springs unbidden from innocent hearts.
Honesty, of course, is its own reward. But since honesty has become a rare commodity, it is now almost necessary to reward such a rare display to show appreciation. In doing so, care must be taken to ensure the gesture is appropriate. A rarity requires nothing common or ordinary.
It is therefore fitting that Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia will be giving Kathlene a cash reward of P10,000 plus an official citation. And we heard the same goes for Kathlene's friends. The cash and the citation, not easy to come by, should be honor enough and should suffice.
And if there is any intent by others to throw in a few little extras, to make the little girls' eyes light up and make them remember this great moment in their lives, maybe a few pretty clothes and some city-bought school supplies should make for very pleasing memories.
But please omit the rice and sardines. These are for refugees. Kathlene and her friends come from poor families who have probably been eating sardines all their lives. Next to instant noodles, sardines are staples on the poor man's table, "labi na kung maka-lugsong."
Kathlene's and her friends' poverty is what made their honesty all the more remarkable. After all, they could have chosen to keep the windfall and none would have been the wiser. The money, you see, was as good as gone, part of the loot inept robbers carelessly dropped and lost.
But their goodness and innocence prevailed. It is a goodness and innocence that will one day serve them in good stead as productive citizens. To help them in that direction, there is a need to make them understand how a good deed can bring something special to their lives.
And that something special cannot come in a box of sardines. If there is no avoiding the giving of foodstuff, why not, say, boxes of Jollibee. This is not meant to plug for the fastfood brand, but it will be a real and more memorable treat for Kathlene and her young friends.