Summary
The mainstream view of kindness to a stranger is pure altruism: doing a good deed without expecting anything in return. But is it possible to view kindness as more of a mutual give-and-take process? Recently, I found myself instinctively reciprocating the kind gestures I received from strangers on the same day. This led me to rethink acts of kindness as anticipated reciprocal relationships. While we may not expect an immediate reward or automatic payback for a random act of kindness, we tacitly hope that when we are in need, a stranger will extend the same favor to us.
Table of Contents
- Why Do We Help Strangers?
- Prelude to a Christian Breakfast Fellowship
- Small Kindness at the Train Station
- Breakfast Kindness at Koneksyon Bar and Café Restaurant
- Kindness that Followed at Train Station
- What Goes Around: Kindness at SM Sta. Mesa
- Reflection on Kindness We Pass On
1. Why Do We Help Strangers?
As a retired academic who intends to become an international influencer through blogging, I find that walking at a leisurely pace is my favorite exercise.
It is a low-impact way to strengthen my heart and regulate my blood sugar, but it also fuels my creativity. Many ideas for my 54 uploaded blog posts (see https://huescribbler.com/) have come to me while simply wandering around. Walking also allows me to observe human behavior, and lately, I have been paying special attention to varied acts of kindness from strangers.
For example, I vividly recall a Monday afternoon on 29 July 2024. I was waiting in a single-file line to enter a busy shopping mall when I noticed an elderly man in front of me pushing his wife in a wheelchair. As he crossed the main door, the front wheels got securely stuck in the steel groove in the floor. He couldn’t move the wheelchair forward or backward.
The crowd’s reaction was mixed. Some froze in bewilderment, while a few simply shrugged, signaling that helping these folks is somebody else’s business. Out of nowhere, a tall Caucasian man stepped forward, lifted the stuck wheels out of the groove, and allowed the elderly couple to continue on their way. The elderly man sheepishly thanked him and moved forward.
Watching this event unfold in close proximity, I asked myself a series of questions: What prompted this foreigner to offer help to two elderly Filipinos he didn’t know? Was it an act of pure altruism? Or was it simply a way of paying it forward, trusting that someone else would help him if he ever needed it?
2. Prelude to a Christian Breakfast Fellowship
On Saturday, 12 September 2026, I decided to attend a breakfast meeting hosted by the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) Marikina Chapter at the Koneksyon Bar and Café in Metro Manila. I had a writer’s inkling that attending this event would enable me to write a blog post about kindness from strangers.
The BCBP is a Catholic covenant community of business owners, corporate executives, and professionals. Founded in Makati City in 1980, the organization has expanded to over 120 chapters and global missions across North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Every Saturday, most chapters hold traditional breakfast meetings where members and guests share a meal, meet new associates, sing religious hymns together, and catch up with acquaintances. The highlight of the breakfast is a member sharing his/her spiritual journey as a Christian.
Though I am formally affiliated with the BCBP North Chapter in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, I knew I would be a welcome attendee in Marikina. (Similar to Rotary, where a member can join the meeting or activity of any Rotary Club worldwide, a BCBP member can do the same.) Pabs Columna, the Breakfast Head of the Quezon City North Chapter, kindly connected me with Reggie Siason, who helped orchestrate the breakfast event and ensured my smooth participation. I contacted him the night before of my arrival.
I decided to use this outing as the foundation for my 55th blog post, which falls under Theme 3 (Culture, Customs & Traditions) category. My purpose for this post is threefold: (1) to describe the help I received from strangers that day; (2) to share how I reciprocated those kind gestures; and (3) to argue that kindness from strangers operates more as a two-way human interaction rather than just pure altruism.
3. Small Kindness at the Train Station
To reach the restaurant, I rode a tricycle first from our flat to the MRT-2 V. Mapa Station. I intended to take the train and complete the final leg of the trip by Grab car. As a senior citizen, I am privileged to ride in the frontmost carriage.
Unsure of the best route, I asked the train guard if I should get off at the Marikina-Pasig Station or the Antipolo Station at the route’s end. He respectfully admitted he wasn’t familiar with the restaurant and preferred not to give any advice. When I returned to my seat, an elderly woman beside me asked where I was going. I showed her the restaurant’s address, and she confidently advised me to disembark at the Marikina-Pasig Station, which I did.
Upon arriving at the Marikina-Pasig Station, however, my perennial struggle with spatial orientation kicked in. I frequently get disoriented even in places I have visited before, and I didn’t know whether to book my Grab car from the North or South Exit. Another stranger noticed my confusion and pointed me toward the South Exit. While waiting for my ride, yet another kind passerby informed me that I was standing in a “no loading/unloading” zone (road signage not conspicuous) and gently guided me to the correct spot.
4. Breakfast Kindness at Koneksyon Bar and Café Restaurant
Although I was still technically a stranger, I was very well received by the BCBP Marikina Chapter’s members and officers. I was seated with the couple sharer (Alison and Maureen Rillon). Alison and Maureen are members of the BCBP Camanava Chapter whom I met during my earlier visit to their Max’s Restaurant venue in Caloocan City.
The Emcee duly acknowledged me as a member who came all the way from Puerto Princesa City. I was given free taste of the famous Marikina pan de sal (bread with salt). (It was so delicious that I ate four pieces while dipping the bread in flavored coffee!) I jovially mingled around and met several new members.
The breakfast itself was wholesome and lively, and I took careful notes while Alison and Maureen shared their personal testimonies. There was one elder lady, a first timer.
After the gathering, Reggie introduced me to an architect named Max Aguirre and his wife. I was delighted to discover that Max is originally from Puerto Princesa City, my current hometown, and we ended up having an engaging conversation about common acquaintances. After that, Reggie kindly waited with me until my Grab car arrived to take me back to the MRT-2 station.
Beyond the wonderful breakfast fellowship, my visit to the BCBP Marikina Chapter came with an unexpected bonus. I shared that I maintain a website where I write blog posts covering a variety of topics and asked whether they might support my growing readership. Many generously agreed, and a few members are still actively visiting my site and reading my blog posts.
5. Kindness that Followed at Train Station
My Grab driver dropped me back at the MRT-2 Marikina-Pasig Station around 11:30 AM. As a senior citizen, I was kindly assisted by the guard at the elevator entrance in bypassing the line.
After stepping off the elevator, I again experienced my usual geographic disorientation. I stopped completely, my head slowly scanning my surroundings. Suddenly, a bespectacled man in sporty attire asked from behind, “Where are you going, Sir?”
“To the V. Mapa Station in Sta. Mesa,” I muttered sheepishly. “In that case,” he replied, “just go to the right and walk upstairs where you can ride the train.”
I boarded the second door of the front carriage. About five meters away, near the driver’s cabin, sat a young boy in a wheelchair. He looked to be around 10 years old. A nearby foreign passenger murmured “hydrocephalus” upon noticing the child’s enlarged head.
The boy stared directly at me, but his eyes were blank. Apparently, he was unmindful of his surroundings. His caretaker, a man in his thirties, stood beside him. Judging by their modest clothes, they seemed impoverished, and I silently prayed for the child’s healing.
As the train approached J. Ruiz Station, the caretaker positioned the wheelchair near the doorway. I moved forward and chatted with him briefly. He explained that the child’s cranial bone was expanding and that they were on their way to the hospital for further treatment.
Instinctively, I pulled out a PhP100 bill from my coin purse and handed it to the caretaker. I wasn’t entirely sure what prompted me to act on the spot. But what surprised me even more was the elderly lady standing to my right; seeing my gesture, she handed the caretaker another PhP100. He thanked us both profusely before rolling the wheelchair out the door.
6. What Goes Around: Kindness at SM Sta. Mesa
Upon arriving at V. Mapa Station, I opted not to head straight home. Instead, I decided to treat myself at the nearby SM Sta. Mesa Mall.
First, I walked around doing some window shopping. Second, I settled into an electric massage chair at a shop and dozed off for an hour. I woke up at 3:00 PM feeling unusually hungry. I went up to the 4th Floor’s Food Court to eat my favorite healthy meal: Filipino sour stew of salmon head with green veggies. And then I got tempted to eat a smorgasbord instead. The Irish playwright, Oscar Wilde, famously quoted: “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
As my third action, I yielded to the temptation and unilaterally declared my late lunch a cheat meal! Instead of partaking of my usual fish and vegetables, I went down to the upper ground floor into a Japanese restaurant called Sumo Niku. There, I feasted on unlimited beef, chicken, and pork barbecue, alongside assorted side dishes. (My wife would be very unhappy reading this blog about the sheer volume of meat I voraciously consumed!)
Interestingly, the three customers at the table next to mine paid by credit card and left without tipping at all. Normally, I leave a minimal tip at buffet restaurants since a service charge is already included in the bill. But on that particular afternoon, I left a tip of PhP70 — about 15% of my total bill of PhP477. While enjoying my fruit salad dessert, I manually jotted down my notes for this blog post.
7. Reflection on Kindness We Pass On
On that fateful Saturday, September 2026, I received numerous kind gestures from complete strangers who helped me with transportation to and from the BCBP Marikina Chapter event. Moreover, I received various acts of kindness from members of BCBP Marikina Chapter.
In return, I found myself reciprocating that kindness to other unknown people. More specifically, I gave money to a struggling child caretaker and left a generous tip for a hardworking server.
I decided to turn my scribbled notes into this 55th blog post to argue that kindness is a two-way street. When we receive generosity from strangers, we often feel a quiet compulsion to reciprocate it through other means.
Reflecting on this experience brings to mind our eldest son, Mikhail Robert. When he was living in the US, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. His wife and our daughter set up a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his medical and surgical expenses. What surprised me most was the outpouring of donations from anonymous individuals — and even among those who left their names, there were some we didn’t recognize.
I concede that kindness to strangers is a form of altruism. We often extend help to people we don’t know for the sheer joy of giving, without expecting anything in return. Nonetheless, I am increasingly inclined to view kindness as a spectrum. At one end, we act purely out of the goodness of our hearts. At the other end, we help strangers as a conscious way of paying it forward.
I will end this post with a quote often attributed to Princess Diana: “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
In this sense, kindness is also a brilliant survival strategy. We extend assistance to those in need, silently yearning that if we are ever the ones who need rescue, someone else will come to our aid.
***** END OF BLOG *****
REFLECTION FOR READERS
Dear Readers,
Thank you for accompanying me through this inquiry into everyday kindness — from a train station to a café called Koneksyon, through the aisles of SM CenterPoint, and back home again. What began as one Saturday encounter became a question I couldn’t set down: Why do we help strangers, and what do we owe them in return?
If you’re still reading, you’ve either recognized yourself in these pages — or come to interrogate the premise. Either way, you’re participating. So let me turn the question back to you:
- Can you recall a stranger’s kindness you never repaid?
- What did you do with that debt?
- Is it harder for you to receive kindness than to give it?
Share your accounts in the comments — a kind of shared field study for those of us still working out the logic and grace of kindness between strangers. Together, let’s compare notes and — perhaps — learn to notice the small acts of kindness happening daily: at the station, the café, the mall, and the long ride home.
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