Thou Shalt Not Sleep
by Oliver Carlos
It was my first solo commute to Metro Manila. I was a 16-year old college freshman going to Diliman, Quezon City. The year: 1989. I rode a UPLB to UP Diliman bus. There was a bus line like that in those times. The trip was long and boring. I felt sleepy. I was struggling to keep myself awake. But I can’t help dozing off every few minutes.
When the bus was along EDSA, some passengers alighted every few hundred meters. They would get replaced by new passengers in those bus stops.
Then, in one bus stop, as I was half-asleep, I suddenly heard a loud and deep voice saying “Ilan ka? (How many are you?)” I saw a big hand in front of my face. It had paper bills in between the fingers. The index finger was right there pointed at my face.
Still groggy, I replied to the man, “isa po (one, Sir)” with my index finger making a number one sign. I was thinking the man was a bus conductor or inspector because of the money in between his fingers. I thought he was asking me if I was alone or how many companions I had on the trip. So I told him the most logical answer, “isa po (one, Sir).”
Then with one swift motion, the man took out a Zest-O tetra pack drink from I-don’t-where, and with his other hand he drew a drinking straw from his back pocket and plunged it on the tetra pack so I would have no choice but to accept it. He spoke again with his deep voice, “nine seventy-five!” He was selling to me a Zest-O juice for triple the price!
At that point, I had all my sleepiness flushed out. It felt like a big bucket of ice-cold water that fell on my head. I clearly saw all the people in the bus looking at me and the Zest-O vendor. They were waiting to see what I would do.
Well, I was so shocked I just drew out money from my wallet and paid the man for the most expensive tetra pack juice on the planet. He took my money and went down the bus as if nothing happened.
Then my stranger seatmate told me that I did the right thing. If had contested the man and didn’t pay him, he would drag me out the bus and beat me up. He had cohorts waiting outside to join in. If some Good Samaritan would notice the scene and ask what’s going on, the man would simply say I ordered one tetra pack drink and I wouldn’t pay for it. He would say to the stranger that the people in the bus would testify that I clearly said “isa po.” Thus, nobody would really come and help me.
So there I was, sipping with a straw my tetra pack juice, with all the people in the bus looking at me. I can hear some of them whisper to others, “Poor boy, he just got victimized by the Zest-O gang.”
Moral of the story: Thou shalt not sleep.
Jesus told something like this to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He asked some of his disciples to keep awake as the he prayed a few meters away. But after some time, he would find them sleeping. So he spoke to them in Luke 22:46 (NIV):
“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
When Jesus said this, he was also speaking in a figurative sense. He’s saying that we should always be alert, always be on guard, because temptations are all around. Be conscious of those unguarded moments that the enemy would use to make us fall. We should always pray, ask God to keep us away from people, places, and circumstances that would cause us to sin.
Friends, let us always remember Jesus’ words, and also the Father’s advice to his child in Proverbs 4:23 (NIV):
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
