Tis The Season

It's the most wonderful time of the year.. to be gullible and play victim.

Three days ago, my sister lost her phone to a stealthy secondhand merchandise enthusiast. He was on the prowl for the blood of defenseless phone-toting bystanders. Today, however, offered a more interesting turn in street-no-smarts.

In a jeepney ride from Sto. Nino Church, a passenger stole my five peso coin. He took it before handing the driver the rest of the fare. It was very criminal savvy. I didn't realize what had just gone down until the driver accused us as freeloading pansies as we proceeded to flee, err, terminate the carriage contract . Not his exact words, but the 50 year old scowl on his face said so, along with a few syllables that escapes me. The shame killed all neural traffic.

Was I to curse every fiber of this coin-napper's morally revolting being? Or was I to denounce my demons and bless him instead?

I chose to be a wuss, I took pity. I'm not saying this out of my ass: if he needed that five peso coin that bad, I would have offered my last 20.

I laid down my bases for an ounce of sympathy. The guy looked lost, in need of a shower(or three) and a meal. Someone you could easily pick out of the tens of faces that haunt the dingy streets of Colonnade. I realized, I do not make a good cold-blooded executioner.

The Christmas season invites the most creative and distorted versions of giving and receiving from common criminals and petty theives.

God bless you on yer merry way.