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WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
What’s our end goal besides being debt free? What do we have to offer out of all the thousands of personal finance blogs out there?
Our simple answer to that is just our unique experiences.
A LIFE CHANGING STORY FOR US
I remember a particular day 25 years ago, Moira and I were just married and lived in a modest house in Quezon City Philippines.
It was the summertime, and one day as we were walking out of our home to catch a ride, we saw a gentleman walking in front of us carrying a two-year-old on his shoulders while holding on to another five year old in his left hand.
As they were crossing the street in front of us, the man suddenly collapsed and fell onto the pavement, thankfully the children did not get seriously hurt.
As we ran towards them to help, we noticed the man as well as his kids looking pale and sweaty; we quickly realized they haven’t eaten nor drank anything and were quite tired from walking.
When we asked about what they were doing or where they were headed, he told us they were walking towards the city to find his wife, the mother of his 2 kids, to see if she was okay since they haven’t heard from her for two years after she left home to work in the city.
They came from a nearby province and only had enough money for bus fare, so they had walked from the bus station, at least 30 miles away, on foot, for a couple of hours trying to find her.
It didn’t take time for a few more bystanders to also walk up to see what was going on. We all quickly stood them up, walked them to a nearby restaurant, paid the owner of the diner to feed them, and we gave the man whatever cash we had in our pockets to help out.
After a few minutes of seeing they had revived, we said goodbye to the man and his kids to go on our way.
It was obvious in his eyes how thankful he was and no words needed to be said.
It was at that moment, seeing into the eyes of this broken man, hopelessly trying to find his wife in the myriad of the city, I realized that people would do what it takes to pursue a purpose, a destination, a dream.
HOW IT HELPED US
I must admit, everyone who crossed paths with this man and his kids must’ve felt pretty good to be able to help a guy in need, seems that this man may have thought he was the beneficiary of all this help, but in reality he helped us, all of us who were touched by his tenacity, his determination, his drive.
Such determination was never lost on both of us as we recall this man and his mission.
OUR TAKEAWAY
In hindsight, this was one of the defining stories of our young lives that to this day, Moira and I continue to talk about; the man and his kids and what became of them? Were they able to find the wife and complete their mission? We certainly hoped they did.
All this to say, that there are people that we will encounter on our journey, who we will stumble upon and know we just have to help; in our own little way, with whatever we can afford in those moments.
The key is to stop, see these people in need, help them get up, encourage and love on them as they go about their journeys.
That’s our goal in sharing these stories.
Peace and Blessing to you All.
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