A Fraud Victim: Faith Are Fireflies In Their Darkest Moments

Photo file from Internet: Pablito Leonardo airlifted after an explosion in Pickering in 2013

April 10, 2013 and emergency response were trying to retrieve a worker trapped in a tunnel they were building in Pickering after an explosion. Three of the other injured workers were rushed to the nearest hospital. The other one has to be airlifted to Sunnybrook's Hospital Trauma Unit because his injuries were extreme. Pablito Leonardo was frantically airlifted and confined for serious injuries received during the explosion. And the Leonardo family's life changes drastically in that instance.

What followed were years of therapy, trauma and countless suicide attempts. But the wife stayed on with their only son witnessing the devastation of a strong family man slowly becoming a different person. There were days he'd walked towards a bridge in an attempt to climb and jump to end his miseries. His wife and son would then quickly follow and avert a tragic scenario. They will then bring him home.

Those episodes of hopelessness, despair, the inability to be the husband that he was, drove the family to the edge. But their strong faith in God led them through those difficult moments. In fact, God has probably prepared an angel for Pablito in the guise of a son of his basement occupants they let in a few years back. It was this very young child that act as his Therapist. Every time Pablito became difficult, impatient and angry, Pablito's son will go down the basement and bring that young boy up and Pablito will calm down.

Pablito's life has been spared not just once, but twice on the bigger picture. Some few brushes with death and he made it. He would then looked back in 2004 when he was presumed clinically dead for five minutes aboard a Carrier vessel in Papua New Guinea when they collided with another vessel. As Chief Engineer, he was frantically trying to save the vessel from sinking. As he used the robot pump, it emits the deadly carbon monoxide that made him unconscious and for five minutes, his co- workers desperately tried to revive him. A minute away from brain damage and death, he awoke wondering what had happened to him.

The Leonardos hailed from the Visayas Region where we were nurtured to be compassionate to the people around us. Like me, the Leonardos grew up with many cultural practices and one of them is to give back at every blessings received through a thanksgiving celebration. On my part, every time I made a homecoming, peasants and relatives who barely have foods on their tables, they'll come around to partake what I can give them, foods. The foods they can't readily eat everyday. It is a deep-seated tradition to hold a feast and have fun and enjoy each other's company.

I did that all the time, coming home from overseas and the folks, aunts living in remote areas will come down asking for bread.  Because you see them exhausted and tired, walking those rugged terrains with nothing on their feet under the scorching heat of the sun just to see me. I have to prepare them foods and it became an instant feast. The joy being with them is overwhelming.

The Leonardos practiced the same traditions and the same cultural principles; to prepare for a feast on special occasions. It has nothing to do with bragging and showing off. It is a tradition passed on to us and embedded by our ancestors so that we continue to shower people with generosity. That's what the Leonardos are, compassionate and giving. It has become a mantra for Pablito and Mica to pledge to God that when the storms are over, they will hold a Thanksgiving Feast.

It is the dictates of the heart. The outpouring of charitable deeds, coupled with recognizing a profound blessings received at the recovery of Pablito's wellness when the family overcame the odds where faith brought them safely to the shore.

The upcoming feast and Thanksgiving Celebration this November 11, 2017 at LVIV Oshawa is a manifestation of this family's generosity and fulfillment of promises made in those years of utter difficulties, pains- both physical and emotional. It is time to give back to the many people who stood by them.

After all, God hasn't actually left them abandoned in all those trials and tribulations. Their faith floats like fireflies that has guided them all through the worst ordeals of their lives.

Let's all gather and enjoy the feast.

After the storm...a Thanksgiving Feast!