Photo by Carel Shari Cabulao
CEBU CITY, Philippines — There are three things in life that are important: First is to be kind. Second is to create happy memories. Third is to love without expecting anything in return.
The first one was the message this netizen wanted to imply when she uploaded a photo that went viral on Facebook last Wednesday, August 7, 2019.
Netizen Carel Shari Cabulao, 21, took a photo of a street boy around 10 years old spoon-feeding an old blind man in an eatery in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City.
Cabulao and her three other companions were going on a “food trip” in the Pasil eatery when a blind man with his ukulele, sat at the table across from where they were.
The blind man ordered a bowl of spicy fish stew, commonly known to Cebuanos as “larang”.
The eatery, according to her, specializes in “larang” or one of the places to go to in the city to eat this local dish.
Cabulao told CDN Digital in an interview that the old man, aside from being blind, had also a problem opening his fingers, which made it difficult for him to hold a spoon and fork to eat.
“Around 11 p.m. nangaon mi dha sa larangan sa Pasil. Nauna mi kaysa ani ni tatay nga nagkaon. Then serve sa tindera sa order ana niya, gihatagan na siya sa akong amiga og kutsara, so nagtuo mi nga kaya ra niya mokaon nga siya ra,” she said.
(Around 11 p.m., we visited the larangan in Pasil. We were already there waiting for our order when tatay arrived. Then when the eatery helper served tatay, our friend also gave him a spoon. With that, we thought that he could eat on his own.)
“So while nagprepare sa pagkaon sa iyang order, naglingkod na na siya. Ni-start nami og kaon then kanang bata niduol na niya og kalit, unya iyang gi hungitan so kami na-amaze mi ga tan-aw,” Cabulao said.
(So while he got ready to eat. We, on the other hand, had already started to eat when suddenly a child approached the blind man, picked up the spoon and started spoon-feeding the man. We were surprised and amazed by what we saw.)
Cabulao said that a concerned woman stopped the kid from feeding the blind man— as she was doubtful of the little boy’s intentions and shooed the boy away.
She then took over spoon-feeding the man but she only did it twice and left.
It was then that the boy returned and continued spoon-feeding the blind man.
“Naa’y niduol nga babaye, iya gibadlong ang bata nga “hoy basin ikaw ang mukaon ana ha” mao to niana ang bata nga dili daw, iya ra daw hungitan. So nakahungit to ang babaye mga kausa o kaduha ba unya nilakaw ra pud so nibalik ang bata ug iya gituwas ug hungit,” Cabulao said.
(A woman stopped the kid doubting his intention for spoon-feeding the old man. She asked him: Are you going to eat his food? The boy told her no and that he was just helping the blind man eat his food. Fearing the woman, the boy left and the woman took over spoon-feeding the old man twice then she left. After that, the boy returned and finished feeding the old man.)
Cabulao said that they were surprised and amazed at the kid’s simple act of kindness to the blind man.
She said obviously, the old man did not know the kid.
She said that she took her phone and took a photo of that simple act of kindness from a kid and posted it on her Facebook account.
She said she did that to show to everyone, especially her fellow Cebuanos, that if a simple kid could show kindness to a stranger with a disability, then perhaps everyone could too.
“Wala gani na nako gipublic akong post pero naay ni comment nga i-public para ma-share, di para ma sikat, kung di para ma share nga naa pa’y maayo nga nahabilin aning kalibutana . No hate, just love,” she said.
(I did not intend to make it a public post but one of my friends commented that it should be made public, not to be famous or anything, but to share the fact that there is still kindness left in this world. No hate, just love.)
“Unta ingon ani ang mag sige og viral, dili ang mga bati nga panghitabo,” she added.
(Posts like this should be ones that should go viral and not posts about bad news and bad happenings.)
As of this writing, the post has 27,000 reactions, 2,000 comments and 32,000 shares on Facebook. / dbs