I have lost three mobile phones to pickpockets and snatchers over the years. Mobile phones are stolen a lot because they can be sold quite easily. After the loss of the third one, I had decided to put a lanyard on my phone and tie it to my waistband.

Unfortunately, the lanyard made me too confident, that I no longer bothered to make sure that I still have my phone. I was walking on the sidewalks of Cubao, Quezon City one day when I heard someone call me. "Miss! Miss" the call was quite insistent. When I turned my head, I could see one itinerant cigarette vendor holding my phone in his hands. "I think this is yours," he said. The lanyard had broken and the phone fell off, all without my noticing. The vendor saw it fall from my pants and got to it before the others could.

I thanked him profusely and bought a pack of cigarettes from him, even though I didn't smoke. All the time I could not believe I had gotten my phone back. He could have gotten around $200 in the black market for that. Considering that he earns only a few hundred pesos in a day if he were lucky, I can only imagine how much he "lost" for returning the phone to me.

But then again, I think he did not lose anything. I think he gained a lot--as I did too--from that one act of kindness to a stranger.