A Portion of Thy Self

Rushing my way to the office early this morning made me fail to take my breakfast. I decided to eat my breakfast in our canteen. Tita Nida (one of the concessionaires in our canteen), was also eating her breakfast and offered me to join her. As we were talking, she told me about her adopted daughter's condition (I was amazed to know that she's only adopted). She told me that she has to work double time in order to finance the medications of her daughter who has a congenital heart disease. I asked if the girl is a daughter of her sister or any of her relatives... and she said "No. She is given to me by a stranger in our hometown in Mindanao."... (I was even more amazed.)

For years, Tita Nida shoulders the medications and other clinical procedures of the child. Most her income were spent in the wellness of the child. She told me that eventhough the child did not came out of her body, the hardship that she went through was even greater. The only thing that makes her strong is when she sees her (adopted) daughter smile. It is also very rewarding said Tita Nida because the girl is very smart and always tops in her class, she is now in 4th grade. Still, Tita Nida is saving money for the girl's heart operation... it has been long overdue since they have no enough funds for it.

A mother that loves her child is noble, but to love a child, who is not blood-related, given by a stranger, is much nobler. Despite of Tita Nida's little earnings, she accepted the child whole-heartedly. She loves the child like her own. She opened her heart and embraced the child with love and care. This left me thinking what I can do for others without expecting in return? Will I also be capable of giving an unconditional love like Tita Nida?

It made me think also of other parents who take their children for granted; parents who let their children suffer from child labor; parents who abuse or never have the time to attend to their children's physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs; parents who are ungrateful for having a child (while other sterile or unproductive couples struggle hard just to have one). How cruel these parents are.

It made me think of children who end up being abandoned in shelter homes... just imagine the emotional trauma these children are going through... insurmountable!

It made me think of the volunteers in the different organizations that provide shelter, education, and home to the abandoned children. These volunteers give their time and effort to teach and guide them. It made me wonder how they would survive without any compensation from their endeavor.

How wonderful it is to know that there are still people like Tita Nida who can share their love and care (and money) for children they are not related with. It is my dream to have a foundation for abused and abandoned children someday... a foundation that will provide education to them because I believe that formative years start in early childhood. I have a heart for children (and elderly, as well) especially for those who are neglected, abused, and abandoned by their loved ones. I realized that I, myself sometimes feel the same (neglected, empty, betrayed)... it was a mental disaster... an emotional calamity. But I am still blessed for I have my family & friends to support and encourage me. How much more with these children who are totally cast-off?

Someday, I will be a mother too... Hopefully, I will have my own children... but what if one day, a stranger knocks at my door and gives me her child to nurture and take care of? Will I be compassionate enough to accept the child? When that moment comes, I will be remembering Tita Nida's.

"No one has ever become poor by giving." Anne Frank

"Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others." Barbara Bush

"The love we give away is the only love we keep." Elbert Hubbard

"Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege." John D. Rockefeller Jr.