Honesty and acts of kindness

It seems that most of the time the only news we hear is bad news. News about political upheaval, killings, missing persons. It can get quite tiring listening to the latest slew of negative news bites on television or reading about them in the newspaper. Whether it’s the dirty game of politics being played out, citizens up in arms over a law that threatens their basic right of freedom of speech, or problems all over the world of war, poverty, hunger, hurricanes, tsunamis, and drought, it can get exhausting keeping abreast of the latest news events.

That’s why it is also good to be sure to look on the bright side once in a while, to remind us that even amidst all the bad things that are happening, there is also a lot of good as well. It’s this good that renews our spirit and restores our faith in humanity and the world in general.

I had my dose of good news last week. My daughter and her family were flying to Boracay to attend a wedding. It was not their first trip out of town with my granddaughter, but it was their first trip with the baby being very mobile and loving to run around and climb on things and basically assert her independence, so it was definitely more difficult this time than it was when they traveled with her as infant. We dropped them off at the terminal early to give them ample time to check in and they got through check-in and security quickly and sent us a message when they were already in the waiting area.

Now my wife had already told our daughter Michelle to keep a close eye on all of their things. With a toddler they had their bags full of toys, toddler accessories, and everything they needed for the baby. On top of that, she also had her laptop with her and her work papers as well since she needed to be work mobile while on their vacation. It was a natural precaution as things can easily get misplaced when running around with so many bags and a child.

In either case, they soon messaged that they boarded the plane and were bound for Boracay. All seemed well. Then, one and a half hours later, when they had landed and were already in the terminal in Caticlan, we got a tearful call from Michelle saying she had left her laptop bag (with the laptop inside) in the waiting area back in Manila. Their flight had been delayed so they had gotten the baby down for a short nap while waiting. Then, when their flight was finally boarding, they missed the announcement. They were scrambling to board and grabbed all of their things (or so they thought) and ran for the gate. With the baby still cranky from just waking up and making sure she got situated on the plane, they didn’t even realize the laptop was missing. They only noticed when they landed and were taking inventory of their bags.

Needless to say, she was devastated. As a writer and an editor, most, if not all, of her work is connected to her laptop and to be parted from it was like “missing a limb”. They acted quickly though and my son-in-law, Nino, called the airport back in Manila and was connected to the Lost and Found. Naturally, this was not the first time something like this had happened and the man he spoke to there, Ian, was very helpful and assured him that they would try to send out someone to see if it was still there. It had been just a little over an hour before they left.

While they were waiting on word from Lost and Found though, another helpful person from the Cebu Pacific staff in the Caticlan airport, Mon, offered to personally call his friends at the Cebu Pac gates in Manila to see if they saw anything. The security team at the airport also told them to call airport security, as they are usually the first to find left behind luggage or lost packages. So while everyone was on the phone, Nino contacted airport police and spoke with Officer Bong dela Cruz. He responded very quickly and said he would send someone to the area immediately to check.

With nothing left to do but wait, and after roughly 30 minutes in the Caticlan terminal, my daughter and her family decided to move forward and head to Boracay beach. They boarded the ferry and got to the island in less than 30 minutes. When they arrived, Nino got the amazing news from Officer dela Cruz that a bag resembling Michelle’s laptop bag had indeed been found by his colleague at the area described, and he was very hopeful it was what they were looking for. He promised to contact them for confirmation once the bag was in the office.

Needless to say, the entire family (us here in Manila included) were relieved and amazed at this fortunate turn of events. A few minutes later, Nino called Officer dela Cruz and it was confirmed that the bag was indeed their laptop bag and all the belongings were safely inside and accounted for. He turned it over to the Lost and Found office for them to pick up when they returned to Manila.

Its stories like this that make me smile no matter how messed up the world can seem from time to time. Honest people doing what they can to help out others. Michelle knows how lucky she is, as that bag and her Macbook Pro could have been gone in an instant had things happened differently. But instead, she lucked upon honest and kind people who quickly went out of their way to help.

And these stories are not isolated events either. Last year, an honest cab driver named Rick Lamanilao returned a bag with P200,000, credit cards, a passport, and other items to a British tourist who forgot his bag in the cab. This was the third time he had returned valuables to passengers who had forgotten their items. Despite being hard up for cash, honesty was more important to the hard working driver who believes in good karma.

And just last month, a security guard in SM returned P43,000 and other valuables to a Chinese shopper who had lost her bag. Domingo Pulod chanced upon the wallet with the money, credit cards, and other valuables and reported it immediately despite his family being in debt. The items were returned to a very relieved owner who was incredibly grateful. And earlier in September, airport officials also lauded the honesty of janitor Ronald Gadayan, a building attendant in NAIA Terminal 2, who returned a bag containing cash and valuables estimated to be worth P1.8 million.

There are good people, and I hope they are blessed tenfold as they have blessed those around them. Whenever I feel that there is just an overwhelming amount of bad news, I remind myself that there is always good in the world too. We just have to remember to be grateful for it.