EDITORIAL - Angyls among us

You might have already seen the video circulating in social media. Mango vendor Bernadeta Zamora, 54, was minding her own business in downtown Cebu City when she is suddenly attacked from behind by a man who slashed her throat.

As the assailant runs off --later to be arrested by bystanders then identified as her jealous live-in partner Edwin Salazar Lumacad, 58-- the people around the victim seem to be paralyzed as she struggles for breath. Then a Nursing student leaps into action followed by a fellow student from the same course. Together they manage to stabilize the victim’s condition until she can be taken to the hospital.

University of Cebu Nursing student Angyl Faith Ababat gets the credit for first reacting to the emergency and helping the victim, then being followed by her fellow student Kristianne Joice Noelle Ona.

This is something many of us actually don’t want to be put through; being faced with a sudden, terrifying, yet defining moment when everything can actually depend on us and our instant actions, when our quick judgment may actually mean someone else’s life or death.

But when faced with that exact situation the two performed admirably and as they should, given the profession that they were training for. They are now getting praises from many sectors. Ababat is also set to be awarded a scholarship while Ona is set to be endorsed for the same reward.

While what they did was by no means extraordinary --anyone can save a life when push comes to shove-- it was their decisiveness and quick action that made a difference and showed people that even in a world desensitized by violence and indifference, there are people who will help total strangers at no imminent benefit to themselves.

We can only hope that in our own moments of greatest need there will be Angyls as well as angels around us. This is just one side of the coin, though. We should also hope that when such moments come for others, sudden moments that can make even the calmest of us hesitate and the bravest among us freeze, that we can become the angels that they need.