The King will reply, ‘I tell you the
truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me.’ Mt. 25:45
"Saving for yourself is good but saving also for others is even better!"
Unidentified Identity
A man was
being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy road, when suddenly, the
light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing and stopped,
even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the
intersection.The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection.
As she was still in rage, she heard a tap on her window and looked up seeing a very serious police officer.The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.
After several hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.
I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate, the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.
Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.
The
Three Pasahero Acts
Obviously,
having a solid, virus and hacker free identity is important for us. Without it,
our life will be in total chaos. That is why we device a lot of documents (certificates, ID cards, codes, passwords, etc) expressions (rituals, body
marks, signs, etc.) and even join associations to protect and proclaim our
identity. But sometimes like the woman, we fail to live-out the identity we’re
professing.
I
hope this will not happen to us being a pasahero. Because the reality is that,
pasahero is more that a group, it is first and foremost an identity. It is
being a generous person, living the generosity lifestyle. And for us to be really
identified, we should try our best to practice these three basic “pasahero
acts” or to live-out our basic identities.
A
Generous Saver,
A
Generous Passenger,
And
a Generous Example.
A
Parish Volunteer Who Sends Children to School for Free
Let me introduce to you the first pasahero act, being a “Generous
Saver” by sharing with you the story of Ate Lita.
Ate
Lita is a 62 years old lady and a parish volunteer working for young people. I
meet her during a group sharing in the recent conference I attended. She actually
shared a lot, but what inspired me most about her is that she runs a foundation
that sends poor yet deserving children to school.
At
first I thought that she was rich, but I was surprised when she said, “Hindi
naman ako mayaman, nagtitipid lang talaga ako para makaipon araw-araw para sa
kanila. Halimbawa, hindi ako nabili ng mamahaling damit, pati minsan pag
kumakain ako sa labas, tinitipid ko rin. ” “Meron din akong mga kaibigan na
tumutulong sa akin.” “Wow, ang galing naman!” I said.
Unfortunately,
the time for sharing was over and I was not able to share with her my own version
of what she’s doing. But the great thing is that I can share it to you now. I
call this act the “generous saver.”
Introducing: The
Pasahero Ticket
The picture at your right
is a sample of pasahero ticket, a small card that reminds me of my commitment to be a “generous saver”.
Printed above-middle
is the “generosity creed”, the mission of pasahero. It says: The one who
gathered much, did not have too much, the one who gathered little did not have
too little.” Basically this means that when people started to live generously, resources
will be available and poverty will be lessened.
P 6.00 is
the amount that I can save every
time I go to work by riding an ordinary bus instead of an air-conditioned one.
I save this amount daily so I can financially bless other people particularly
when there is a need. The date (Sept. 18, 2011) is when I deliberately started
this practice.
Know what? Like
Ate Lita, I’m now able to help a lot of my friends and even strangers in need
compared as before. Yes, it may not be much, but the thing is I was able to
give them something.
Can I ask
you something?
Have you
experienced a moment wherein you really want to give financial support to a friend in need
but you can’t afford because you do not have the resources? Then, if you
will be saving for times like these, you will no longer find yourself again in this
kind of situation.
So, I
believe that saving (not only for
ourselves) for others is really a must for us today. Because most often,
you’ll find people who will come to you for support- just to get by -
especially in times of emergency.
Save any amount that you can. It doesn’t matter if you save big or small amount as long as you do it everyday. How are you going to save it also depends in your own circumstance. Maybe you can save it by skipping a soda after every meal, preferring to walk than a tricycle ride in short distances or maybe by stop smoking and the like.
Save any amount that you can. It doesn’t matter if you save big or small amount as long as you do it everyday. How are you going to save it also depends in your own circumstance. Maybe you can save it by skipping a soda after every meal, preferring to walk than a tricycle ride in short distances or maybe by stop smoking and the like.
What is also
good about this pasahero act is that you’re
the one to keep your savings and you
will be the one to decide to whom and how you’re going to use it provided that
it will be use for others. Again, you are the one to keep your savings,
so be committed and honest with it. In this way, you will experience
“first-hand” the joy of generosity more than just being used to chip-in or
donate some of your “extra” money to an organization or movement.
Being a Spiritual
Depositor to our “Pasahero Account”
By doing
this together, we will all become an active and spiritual depositor in our so
called “Pasahero” Account that we'll be maintaining. For you to see clearly
how this initiative will work, let us try to do some mathematics.
If I can
save P 6.00 per day, I have P 42.00 per week, then P 168.00 per month, then P
2,016.00 per year. Let us just say that all pasahero members (68 in all) will do the same (with P 6.00 saving per day), we can
save at least 137,088 a year. If we will continue saving this amount for just
five years, approximately we have P 685,400 actively working to help people around us. How about a 100 or 200 people doing this for next 30 years?
That would really be something!
However, I
would like to tell you that this amount is only an approximation because in
reality, our saving can easily decrease when a member uses his saving to
respond generously to a particular need (which
I advise), or it can also be suddenly increased when a member decided to
add more to his daily saving (which I
also advise according to your capacity). In any case, I would like to
emphasize that the amount is only a reflection of what should be happening
inside us- having a more generous heart,
a heart that is mindful of others.
The ”iampasahero” group
Facebook Account
Now, you may
be asking, how are you going to know the amount that is already saved in our “Pasahero”
Account?
Yes, this is
where the “iampasahero” group comes
into play. And if ever you’re not yet a member of it, I would like to invite
you there by clicking here and I will add you. By
posting a picture of your “pasahero ticket” there, (which I will give to you through email) we will have an
approximation of our saving. To facilitate our group, I’ll be computing it and
keep everyone updated from time to time.
Can you
imagine that? A huge amount working powerfully saving other people lives, plus
more personal encounters of giving and receiving? No doubt, this will surely help us making a
more generous world today and to the generations to come!
So why wait?
Write your email address in the comment box and I will be sending you your
pasahero ticket. Print it, fill-it up, and post it in our iampasahero group. Keep also your pasahero ticket always so that it will become a reminder of your commitment as pasahero.
I hope I was
able to give you a good picture of the first act of pasahero. If ever you still
have some clarifications, I will really appreciate if you will write it below.
I wish to
see your pasahero ticket soon. And together let us inspire the world to become
a more generous one.
May you have
an inspiring and generous life!
P.S.
Being a pasahero is easy as THINK, SAVE
and GIVE. Think
for the amount that you can put aside according to your own capacity. Save this amount every day. And give it personally to others who are in
need. Join us today! Click here!
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