Inspiring People: An Ordinary Man With Extraordinary Act

As a token of appreciation to the person responsible for the overnight fame and public recognition of the simple taxi cab driver Mr. Maximo Aton, I believe he equally deserves praises and appreciation too. 

And here I present to you the main man -  Mr. Raine Cruz 

Mr. Raine Cruz with the VP

Mr. Aton's story won't explode into the public  and gain thousands of attention and appreciation should this ordinary man failed to act on his impulse of reciprocating the honesty our hero Mr. Aton had shown him.

Now, you might be asking the question, "Who is Raine Cruz?" Well, I don't even know him personally. It was just last night when we had exchanged few and kind words when he accepted my  friend's request in Facebook for my purpose of asking him some details about the story he wrote for Mr. Aton.

Have you ever experienced hailing a cab, riding in it, and eventually after alighting left one of your most important things inside? And the worse part is you'll only realize something is missing from your belongings when you're already home. I am sure some of you, if not many, can relate to this. And perhaps few of you didn't even manage to retrieve your valued things.

Here is a similar story of Mr. Raine Cruz but the only difference which I find it quite strange is that  he was able to retrieve his valued things from the taxi cab he had rode in with his friend that fateful night of April 26, 2012. For his full story about the incident, please click this link The Honest Cab Driver.

Perhaps only few of us can think of doing what Raine had done. Or maybe a simple "thank you" to the honesty of the person we owe for a thing returned to us is enough to gesture our gratitude. But   what had Raine exemplified is a milestone act of gratitude to the person he encountered that night. 

Though, initially agreeing to meet with Mr. Aton in their decided place brought him a little qualms. A usual reaction of a person who's not confident enough if a certain valued thing can still be retrieved given the fact that he and the driver are completely stranger to each other. And to make him a bit calm he once again asked the presence of his good friend Hero to accompany him to the agreed place. That night, he's determined to pursue and retrieve his valued belongings (a laptop + P5,000 cash) since the laptop contains important contents for his works as a photographer. 

To cut the story short, Mr. Aton showed up to the agreed place with a wide smile on his face. That smile erased the lingering qualms Raine had while anticipating what will happen. And to his surprise, the laptop and the cash money weren't even touched and remained intact.

(Flash Back)

By the way, before a meet up happened, Raine tried to call the Crowne Plaza Hotel to try his luck if the security personnel had managed to record information of the cab they've rode in. Raine and his friend Hero were at Crowne Plaza Hotel that night for a "raket" as he coined it. So the hotel was their point of origin.  And to his surprise, the guard provided him the car's plate number and Mr. Aton's mobile too. He then called Mr. Aton and spoke with him. The cab driver disclosed that he attempted to go back to Raine's place but failed to locate his place once again and so he planned that night to go back to Crown Plaza Hotel to endorse it there since he didn't even know what to do with those things.

Raine offered Mr. Aton a meager amount of money as a reward which the latter initially refused. But due to his insistence, Mr. Aton accepted it.

Raine took a photo of the cab driver as he intends to extend his appreciation and thanks to Mr. Aton's honesty through sharing his story in the social network Facebook. He thought that what he had experienced that night needed to be shared. And he also disclosed that he was thankful he experienced it which sealed his beliefs that there are still people who have kind heart and still practice honesty.

And what he initially thought as a simple story of thanks undermined his idea when it exploded in thousands blast when it went viral and had the media feasted with it. Subsequently, giving Raine and Mr. Aton their fair chance to be featured on TV news. And along with it, they were flooded with tons of FB messages and SMS messages. While others spared their time calling them and expressing their appreciation.

Here is the interview by GMA from Raine

The Main Man -Raine Cruz interviewed by GMA 7

In our world today, it is perhaps unnatural if these things still happened. It's very rare to find people with genuine heart and worthy of our trust. But in this day also it's not impossible to find them. I know there are still lots of them roaming around and waiting to have their opportunity of goodness shine upon them. 

Raine and Mr. Aton's story is just another example of the true characters of us Filipinos - we are people raised with sensitivity, culturally respectful, kind-hearted, resilient, free-spirited, and least rude. 

I hope this simple article I've made will inspire us to continue doing good to others. We are here not for our own but we are here to be a person to others.

Kudos to you RAINE! Ikaw Na!

God bless and continue to spread your goodness and may you and Mr. Aton's tribe increase.