The kindness of strangers

Are We There Yet?

The kindness of strangers

By Bong Austero

When we hear of stories of honesty, kindness, and valor committed by taxi drivers our default reaction is to be delightfully surprised simply because the general belief is that most—if not all—of these people are crooks. We’ve gotten used to the idea that if we inadvertently leave something in a taxicab, the probability of the item being returned to us is almost nil. I am told the conventional wisdom of those who “find” lost objects is that these are “blessings” that come their way—some kind of manna from heaven that only fools would refuse.

It is understandable that we have become cynical when it comes to dealing with taxi drivers. When we flag them, we expect them to be surly or to refuse to take us in if our destination happens to deviate from whatever route they seemed to have made up for themselves. We expect them to fleece us with some sob story or even bore or annoy us with their endless chatter about politics or their twisted take on current events.

It is possible of course that they just crave for some decent conversation—it must be frustrating to be cooped up for hours inside a tin box with strangers all day long while the whole city is baking and traffic is on standstill. When we come to think about it, taxi drivers suffer from extreme aggravation too. Sadly, years of pent up distrust seemed to have forced taxi drivers and commuters to tolerate each other only because of mutual need for each other.

But generalizations, and consequently, indulging in stereotyping, is dangerous. The truth is that there remain a number of good and honest taxi drivers out there.

Maximo Aton, taxi driver of O.L.A. taxi with plate number TYZ 619 is among them. And there are many Filipinos out there who are just as eager to praise and commend honesty and kindness. This is proven by the thousands who have come out in full force to salute Aton—many of them going out of their way to call or text Aton to salute him for his good deed and many more “sharing” the Facebook post that called attention to Aton’s simple but exemplary deed.

Aton’s valor has been picked up by mainstream media over the weekend, but credit for the snowball goes to photographer Raine Cruz who went out of his way to express his gratitude by publicly commending Aton in a post in Facebook that has gone viral. One wishes all of us were like Cruz who bothered to validate good deeds when it was done.

Cruz and his friend rode in Aton’s cab from Crowne Plaza in Ortigas to Taytay Rizal. They accidentally left behind a bag containing a laptop and some cash. They were able to trace Aton through the Crowne Plaza guards. When contacted, Aton was already on his way back to Crowne Plaza to return the bag, after trying unsuccessfully to retrace where he dropped Cruz off. According to Cruz, Aton did not only go out of his way to return the bag with the laptop and the cash intact, he manifested other acts of courtesy—he charged the exact rate, issued a receipt, refused to accept a cash reward from Cruz, etc. Truly, a man of integrity and heroism.

Honesty, kindness, and stories of heroism of common Filipinos deserve to be commended. I am personally rallying friends and members of the professional association I am part of to start a program that will publicly celebrate people like Aton and reward him for being proud exemplars of what being a Filipino is or should be. I hope others would do the same. I hope the Department of Tourism would do the same. It is easy to trace Aton—you can look up Raine Cruz in Facebook for Aton’s contact details, or through Crowne Plaza, Ortigas. Many people have done so and from what I gathered, Aton is overwhelmed by the outpouring of congratulatory messages.

The other noteworthy bit in this story is the fact that, finally, people are using social networking sites for positive purposes. The story of Jay Jabonete and his yellow boats is another heartwarming story that also started with a post in Facebook. I will write about Jabonete next week; it’s a story that deserves its own column.

In the meantime, we must nurture the belief that many times in our lives we will have to rely on the kindness of strangers. We must be kind to each other.