Five years ago, I was in a jeepney (a public utility vehicle in the Philippines with a fixed route and seats up to 18 passengers) on my way home from school. A very pregnant woman who seemed to be in labor hailed the jeepney and laboriously got on. She was alone, obviously in a lot of pain, and carried a small bag with her belongings. She found her seat on the jeepney, and all the passengers could see the efforts it took her just to get on the vehicle.

"Where are you going?" the driver asked her.

"The labor hospital," she said. That hospital was not directly in the jeepney's route. To get there, she would still have to walk quite a ways from the jeepney stop. She said that she didn't have any money for a cab.

Before I could do anything, one passenger got off and helped her off the jeepney. He asked the driver to wait for him. He hailed a cab, got the pregnant woman inside it, and gave the cab driver some money for the fare. Then he got on the jeepney again and we went on our way.

It all happened so fast. I could see the other passengers thinking about the incident. The Good Samaritan didn't look rich; he was wearing a construction company's uniform and probably didn't earn more than $9 a day. And yet, he gave the cab driver $4 for the woman. I was not rich myself, and I felt ashamed that I did not do anything for that woman.

That incident stayed in my mind for a long time. Nowadays, whenever I see someone in need, I don't entertain second thoughts anymore. I just help. In some ways, I became a better person because of that one random act of kindness I had witnessed years ago.