Secret No. 1: GENEROSITY

Money, as the old cliche goes, makes the world go round. How being rich and being poor has been romanticized over many years and through many different mediums particularly in movies and soap operas and short stories. The poorer you are, the kinder you are, thus, the blessed you are! Woe to that old belief that is so untrue! Money, if not used properly can really make one evil. I remember that I always had a fear, no, not fear, always felt uncomfortable in the presence of rich people. It is not that our family was poor. We were not. Although, yes, we are not "that" rich. Middle class maybe. But what I can be proud of is that we were raised "socializing" with not-so-rich people. We were taught to be generous and to share what we have. My father is the best example of true generous person I have ever known. During Christmas eve, when all of us sibling shave one whole chicken each ( we're eight), he will knock into neighbor's houses to give away lechon manok to them because they have nothing on their table. Almost all fathers in the neighborhood he helped to go abroad to Saudi Arabia, the time when Saudi was the most popular foreign country that most Filipinos go to to earn dollars. He will rent a jeep to get these men to Manila My mom will prepare cooked rice and chicken adobo for their packed lunch. My parents will literally finance all of them just to get to Saudi without asking for anything in return. They will be so happy just seeing the families of these men prosper. And this is what I learned, to be rich, FIRST AND FOREMOST, ONE NEEDS TO HAVE A GENEROUS HEART.