Costly Mistake

A few days ago I was walking through Divisoria, a dangerous area of Manila near Tondo. I was on my way to the bus station with my niece that morning, taking her to visit her mother in Pampanga, which is about 2 hours away from where we live. Although I knew that this area wasn't safe, I had no choice but to travel through there since it is located directly between my home and the bus station. Besides, I had made that trip many many times before, so I was used to going this way.

This day turned out to be one of the worst days of my life.

I was carrying my bag with one hand and texting on my cellphone with the other, walking down the street in the market with my niece, not paying much attention to our surroundings. All of the sudden, I felt someone grab me from behind. At first I thought it was just 1 of my friends playing around with me, until I heard him whisper in my ear "follow me and you won't get hurt." I could feel him pressing something that felt sharp into my back. I looked over at my niece and saw that there was another man holding her as well. I was VERY scared for our lives, so I did what he told me.

He took us off of the busy street and onto a side street which was less crowded. Normally there are people everywhere in Divisoria since it is a huge marketplace, buying and selling many different things, however, since it was still pretty early in the day there weren't many people around, and those who were there were too busy setting up their shops to notice what was happening to us. The man pushed me hard and I fell to the ground. He told me to give him my cellphone and I did. Then he grabbed my bag and started throwing things out, trying to find anything valuable. All I had was clothes and my wallet. He quickly found my wallet and took it, then the two men just ran away, leaving me and my 4-yo niece in the street. My niece is too young to realize what had just happened to us, but I just sat on the ground for several minutes in shock, tears running down my face. I was too scared to scream for help or to fight back. All I could think about was that I may never get to hold my son again. Although I was very upset about losing my wallet, which had almost 5 thousand pesos in it (nearly an entire months salary), and my cellphone, I was happy to be alive and that they didn't harm me or my niece. Lucky even. Material things are meaningless compared to our lives.

I know now that in the future no matter where I am, I will always make sure to be aware of my surroundings, no matter how familiar or comfortable I am with the area. It was a tough lesson for me to learn, but it made me realize how lucky we are in life to have our health and loved ones, and I am thankful for all of the blessings that I have, however small they may be.