Believing The Best in People

There is a new person in our home. I think he is on his mid-forties and is a construction worker. His name is Edgardo and I don’t even know his last name and guess what… nobody in our family knows? He is a stranger to all of us. He is a total stranger even to the one who brought him in our house. My father.

This is the story of Edgardo. He’s from Cebu and he worked as a construction worker in Zamboanga. On their way home to Cebu, they have to travel to Polauan Port in Dapitan but Edgardo unfortunately was left behind on their trip to Cebu. Last week, police brought him to the station because he went mad in the port. Who wouldn’t be? He was left alone while all of his co-workers have gone to Cebu. He wasn’t able to aboard on time. He was left with not enough money for a ticket for the ship. No cellphone. He’s stranded in a place he knew nothing about. Not able to eat. For how many days, he stayed on the entrance of the cultural center. He asked people who pass by for food and he slept there sitting on the gateway rain or shine.

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My father is a foreman and the City Engineering Office of Dapitan happened to assign him and his other fellow workers to work for the whole decoration of the cultural center for the United Nation event. That was the time he met Edgardo. Edgardo volunteered help and later, in their conversation, my father found out his story. He started giving him money for food. That day, when he came home, he opened up Edgardo’s story and his plan of helping him by offering him shelter in our house and giving him work in our house like fixing our barn. My mother was against it saying that Edgardo may not be that trustworthy and that he may have some mental disorders or something. But my father insisted saying, He needs help and the best we can do is to believe in the best in Edgardo.

When I heard him say that, it made me admire him more. He doesn’t know how much I look up to him and what he said just really made me feel how thankful I am to have him as my father. My mother wasn’t able to argue with it anymore. My father’s decision rule in our house and I’m glad it is. I can understand my mother though. She is just afraid to take the risk of having a stranger living in the house. A stranger that might cause danger. But actually, it is really unfair to think that way against a person you don’t even know. I believe that it is best to think in a positive way. It feels nice to believe in the best of people. It feels nice to be worry free.

Edgardo now stays in our house and we are now finding some way to contact his family and I’m thankful that my father brought him. It feels good when you extend God’s grace to other people who are really in need. There are lots of risk to take but all we have to do is to believe in the best of people.