Good deeds

I miss doing them. It's one thing I can't do as often here in Hong Kong, for the main reason I don't know too many people who need good deeds.

In Manila, good deeds are fun and easy to do. It was as simple as dropping by Adformatix to tell Sir Con that he's the reason why I am where I am now. Or dropping by Arnie's office with a little treat on hand, like Kiehl's lip balm. Or carrying a cake all the way to La Union so that they can get a taste of excellent Apple Walnut-Cake from Manila. Or buying Prichy lunch at our favorite hang-out, Jollibee Vito Cruz. Or buying my sister a new ensemble at People are People. Or giving an unsuspecting cab driver a P100 tip.

What constitutes a good deed for me? It's something you do that puts a smile on someone else's face. That someone can be someone I love: like my sibling, nephews, nieces or friends. It can be someone who created a lasting impact on your life: former bosses, former colleagues, people you've crossed paths with once but left quite an impression, or someone who I shared my life with. It can also be someone random: a cab driver, a salesclerk, a lost tourist, or a kid on the street.

Good deeds make people happy. Happiness, in my opinion, is the best thing one person can give another person. Each and everyone, including myself, can't have too much happiness. It something that you'll never tire giving, and getting a lot of. And this is the precise reason why I love doing good deeds, because it makes me, and another person, happy.

Double Happiness! Ask any Chinese person, and they'll tell you this is tres good.

Yes, I do a few good deeds here and there, but I miss doing it on a regular basis.

So what's stopping me?

First, i don't think people here are used to being the recipients of good deeds. So they react to it with ambivalence, or worse, suspicion. I guess it's a cultural thing. No one's nice to other people, so they don't expect other people to be nice to them. It comes as quite a shock whenever I bring "pasalubong" from Manila to HK, and I do mean A SHOCK! But it looks like they're getting used to it, ergo, I'm fast becoming "Lester, the good boy."

Second, i don't know too many people here. And the people I know don't need good deeds, (or I don't think they need good deeds.) I should really go out and meet more people, so I can have more "good deed" recipients. I'm also afraid that my being nice might be misconstrued as something else: like being cocky or narcissistic, or worse, messianic.

Third, I miss the people I'm used to doing good deeds for. After three months, I realize how much I miss my sisters and brother, my nephews and nieces, my D' Frendz, my Melrose gang, my former officemates, and all the people who mean something and everything to me. I'm actually doing a few good deeds for them, but I have to wait until I go back to Manila before I can see the happiness on their faces.

But like McGyver, I should make do with what I have. Maybe I should chuck fear out the window and start doing good deeds for some random Pinoy in HK. It would be nice to see a random face radiate with happiness again.