The good thing about being good

Sometimes being good and helping others make life so unfair and bigoted that people stop being one. More and more people start forgetting goodness as part of humanity. In a harmonious town in Lapu-Lapu, Butuan City, someone lived her life helping relatives, neighbors and even strangers without asking for anything in return. Yes, there are still people like her.

“I wanted to help even in simple ways, like giving allowances to the children in our town. In their own volition, they insist on sweeping my backyard, which is somewhat cute. It makes me happy,” Juliet Cubin, 51, said.

The Cubin family is known in the place because they are compassionate to people; they are easy to ask favors to as long as they can. Juliet also allowed students to work part-time in her computer shop for extra income. However, before she was able to put up a computer shop, she started with a single vending water machine she bought with her loan from Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD, Inc.), a non-government organization helping socio-economically challenged families. She has been a CARD member for more than eight years now.

“What made me stay in CARD is its desire in helping people. Other people do not want to acknowledge that they needed help because maybe it is the only thing they could keep, their pride. But CARD saw this, and it encourages people to stay even if they are physically unhealthy,” Juliet said.

“Some companies reject those who are already incapable of working or those who are in their senior years because they know it will only cost them. But I have witnessed that CARD is different,” she added.

After her vending water machine, she bought one unit of computer called ‘pesonet’, a coined term for a computer with an internet connection that would cost a peso for a specific period. It became helpful to students in doing their researches and homework so it clicked. Her next loans were allotted in buying more computer units. At present, she owns nine computer units in her shop, not including units for encoding and scanning purposes.

Things may have changed in their lives but they have remained the same. She and her husband, Amado, willingly help anyone who knocks on their doors. Although, just recently, they were betrayed by a business partner. “It hurts because we genuinely trusted that person but we chose to forget about the incident. Money can be earned anyway,” Juliet reminisced.

Presently, the Cubin family is working on another business, a fish pond, with a capital of Php 150,000. They chose workers who are in need. Their other businesses help many people, aside from their two children, one who is already a graduate and one who is still a senior high school student.

Sometimes being good is tiring especially with betrayals from people you’ve trusted for so long. But the good thing about being good is being happy. You live life with self-respect and you truly see the value of giving and living.