Heroes

Heroes

I recently watched the CNN Hero Awards 2009 and couldn’t help but be touched by the people nominated and awarded. These people found a way to help their fellow man and our Earth. When the Hero of the Year Award was given to Efren Penaflorido, I felt pride that a fellow countryman of mine received such accolade and honor. His speech, and I am paraphrasing, says that we are the change we want to be and collectively, we are the change the world needs us to be. There is no doubt that he himself lives by these words as testified by the unselfish work he and his volunteers do in helping educating the young, poor people of the Philippines.

As I sat and watched, I am humbled by the Award Ceremony. Even though I have no aspirations of doing anything so huge as to be given any award, I have always been searching for a way to be of help to others. In my graduate studies, we had classes where the subject of helping out popped up. It is during these discussions that I was able to voice out to my self and in public, for the first time, what my problem is with helping out. I want to help out, to give, to be of service to my fellow man and to the world I live in, to be worth the space I occupy. But, there is this hesitation born of inertia, embarrassment, laziness and skepticism that hinders me from doing anything at all to help out. I want to overcome this. I pray frequently for God to let me know how I can be of service to Him. I do not know and this shames me. There is so much pain, poverty and suffering in the world and I can’t seem to go out of my comfort zone to help out. If I can just take that first step, I know I can find my way.

I want to get rid of the excuses I have from taking that first step. I to pray for God for strength.