On my introductory post, I specifically mentioned that this life changing blog is not all about me. It's also about those stories of life from the people who have shared them to me. A time and event that have made difference to our existence. If you have a story to tell you can share it to me and I'll publish it on my blog. Send it over to [email protected]
Sometimes it's best to have someone else tell a story about us. Don't you think?
Today I'll tell you a life changing story of a friend Jovi. We were schoolmates since elementary and high school. But he's always in the lower section of the class. In the 90's Public schools in Philippines are classified in sections. The first and second sections being the top of the class. Jovi had always been on the lower sections. We weren't friends nor enemies, but we know each other in our elementary and high school years. He was the kind of kid that always gets into fights. Hotheaded and impulsive always trying to prove himself capable. I remember, he had a fist fight with my classmate Jonathan. They seem to be mortal enemies in elementary. You just feel the tension whenever they see each other. And when a fight break, it's always Jovi who ends up with tears in his eyes. I'm saying he's tough but a little too sensitive. Maybe it's the anger, but at my younger years I know nothing about psychology I had no way of expertly tell what's what.
In high school he was one of those hated students. He's constantly probing himself to be better and in return fellow students find it repulsive. Repulsive because Jovi was over confident way beyond his capability. For I don't really care, I have different circle people.
Fast forward to the first day of college life. I was a bit shocked to see a familiar face inside the school bus. Yes, you guess it right, it's Jovi waving his hands. Jovi was one of those who have made difference to my life in my college years. But this story is not about me. It's a story about him so I'm gonna focus more on his whereabouts. Jovi was one of those you wanted to avoid, to avoid trouble. That is if you want to avoid getting into fist fights. Hotheads are ticking time bombs ready to explode.
I came to know him better when we became board mates. I used to stay at my aunt in the city proper but decided to look for a boarding house near the campus and Jovi was the one who told me there was a vacant bed at where he was staying. The rent was quite affordable and the owner live with us, old folks who are very kind to his boarders. It's a typical bungalow house with three rooms for boarding. Each room with two double beds.
There were three of us in the third room. We became buddies as not only we're we roommates, we were also classmates taking up the same course. I started to deeply understand how human mind and emotion works. He was the first person I psycho analyzed. We share stories about our lives. Jovi was the eldest. His mother got pregnant but didn't marry his father. As a kid he hated his step father, they don't get along well. It's one of the reason for his anger and most of the time the only outlet was to get into fights at school. He enrolled even without is parent's consent. I thought I was the poorest student but I realized I was not alone in that side of the world.
There are times I can see him not taking lunch to save money for dinner. And when it's time to pay dues for examination, he's the person who taught me to do promissory note. I can see his determination to really go to school. Not so much of a brain but his perseverance was exceptional. As the saying goes, "no guts no glory", this person had every guts with him. There was a time our money was not enough to pay for fair and we just took the ride and when we arrived in our destination we just gave the what little we had to the conductor and ran as fast as we could. Laughing at what a mess we were. There was a time we had to fetch drinking water on the nearby well because there's not enough coins to buy a gallon of mineral water.
We used to join an Friday meet up with a religious organization. It's called SMC, Student Movement for Christ. SMC's sessions are every friday in the City at the sister university of our school. Jovi was the first person who joined it's session and he invited me in. The only reason we both join was not the search for religious enlightenment. No no at all. But it was the free food. After friday night session all members of the organization are served snacks. At the end of the session we are allowed to stay on the organization's main house, and so there's the free dinner and the next morning breakfast is served after some gospel reading and singing praise and worship songs.
Our Friday adventure went on for months. I only stopped attending when I joined a fraternity. By then Jovi was a changed man, a more religious man. With his perseverance the organization offered him a full scholarship. And to permanently stay at the main house. The once rough tough guys is not a man of God. Preaching gospels and influencing students to join the organization.
Jovi graduated and last time we have communicated he was already working with a huge shipping company as one of their sous chef. All the hard work and time's of empty stomach had paid off. One thing I remember about Jovi is his favorite statement, "Bahala na" or can be rough translated in English as "Come what may. What happens will happen."
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Lesson Learned
Change can be of many forms. You will never gonna know what could happen. The person you thought have no future is the person with a better future. The person struggling to eat today may be the person who will feed hundreds of people tomorrow. A small act of kindness and compassion can save hungry stomach much more a thirsty soul.
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Original Content
@PajeeBear at Cent.co is one and the same @PajeeBear at Publish0x
