Filipino people, as I quickly came to learn, are by their nature some of the friendliest and most welcoming people on the planet.
I planned that I would spend one full day in Manila on zero dollars. I was attempting to see just how far I could go, living off the generosity of complete strangers.
By noon, I got hungry. I found a food cart on a street corner and told the vendor that I’d lost my wallet. He didn’t respond, so I walked away. Suddenly, a young man who had been standing next to us chased me down the block, brought me back to the cart, and bought me a plate of noodles for $1.30. He told me that he’d been jobless, but that he’d just found work that morning—for $8 a day.
“I want to share my blessing with you,” he said. I was speechless. After I turned my camera off, I offered to pay him back later, but he wouldn’t accept any money. Apparently, sharing his blessing was all he really wanted.
I had to admit that I don’t have that kind of giving mentality—or, at least, enough of it. Like the majority of the people I know, I make more than $8 a day. But have I ever chased someone down the street to “share my blessing”? Not even once.
It made me think that 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
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