PASAHERO ACT 1: A Generous Saver

 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.

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!