Manong Sorbetero

It’s raining.

A cold New Year’s eve

Two people fighting for a taxi

While I am watching on the side of the street thinking,

“Good luck getting a taxi right now”

A night with drizzling rain

A night when people just got their last paycheck for the year

A night when the dreams of 2015 are contemplated

Either with a jaded heart

Or with a hopeful one

A night I say to myself,

“Good luck with you going home tonight”

This, coming from a heart

That is neither jaded nor hopeful

Beaten by the fights

Fought over one tough year

Then I saw him

As luck would have it

A man pushing his ice cream cart

In the middle of Makati

Eager to be home

But even more eager to make more money for the night

It’s raining.

A cold New Year’s eve

Two people fighting for a taxi

while I am watching on the side of the street thinking,

“Good luck getting a taxi right now”

A night with drizzling rain

A night when people just got their last paycheck for the year

So who would buy ice cream in the middle of the night?

If they needed more money to spend for cabs

And a freshly cooked meal?

And that is when I realized

I would

I would buy one so that a stranger

Can have the money to buy his family a decent meal for the night

And with that thought, I realized

That my heart was not as jaded as I thought it was

And that there is still this fire burning inside of it

The same fire that will make a man push his ice cream cart

Along the rainy streets of Makati in the middle of the night

That the fire

Can always be reignited

To create new things

To inspire others and yourself

To fight the good fight

One day at a time

Even if it’s raining.