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It’s a Saturday and there’s a little rain shower early in the morning. I wake up unusually early for a weekend. It’s quite dark outside but it seems to me that the shower is a kind of blessing, contrary to the notion of a bad omen.
I take a bath, dress and take my keys and drive to Sampaloc Lake to meet with a group of reflexologists and discuss plans. They are called the Seven Lakes Association of Reflexologists or SLAR. They graduated from the training program of the SPC Women, Family and Overseas Filipino Center, where I work as a research volunteer. I’ve been assigned as their consultant.
Since their graduation sometime in August, the group has been doing charity work every Saturday morning while waiting for their break in getting a stable job. Although the group has no funds yet, as we are all working towards this goal, they are able to give reflexology services for free. SLAR believes that in doing charity work, their skills are honed and positive energies are transmitted. “Reflexology is healing, and healing is about staying positive,” they reiterate.
Recently, they visited the local home for the aged called Bahay Pag-ibig, and gave their services to a set of abandoned grandparents. As they share dtheir experience with me, I could feel the mutual feeling of love and joy in the group and the grandparents.
When I asked them how they keep the group intact, their answer was simple: they discuss and resolve their differences among themselves, and they support and protect each other so that they will not be infiltrated by malicious thoughts.
“Envy and greed are a fatal combination of negative energy, which can and will destroy any organization, and we cannot afford that to happen,” says Julius, their president.
This is the reason why I love talking to them and why I want to work with them to achieve their goals. They make me continue to believe that there are still good people willing to serve others.
While it seems that our country is in chaos and in darkness, the group for me is the source of light and inspiration in my community. They are my teachers. Not many people know them, which reminds me of a dialogue from a play by Robert Bolt, “A Man for All Seasons”:
MORE: Why not be a teacher? You’d be a fine teacher. Perhaps even a great one.
RICH: And if I was, who would know it?
MORE: You, your pupils, your friends and God. Not a bad public that…Oh, and a quiet life.
Only them, their patients, their families and friends and God know their work very well. They are the common heroes that make our country still blessed despite the challenges that our country faces. When they thank me for supporting them, I feel embarrassed knowing that they deserve thrice the praise for sharing positive energies with the community and myself.
As I walk back to my car, I feel warm and light even though dark clouds hover above me. Then the rain starts to fall.
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