PEDRO, THE BLIND WOOD CUTTER

In the 50’s whom my mother’s young brother, Abelardo, was still alive, he had a friend, a blind man by the name of Pedro.  This refused to be a beggar.  He would approach some families to cut their fire wood.

He would feel the part of the wood where his sharp bolo would strike.  He would chop the firewood the whole day but would not complain.

Sometimes, firewood would be dried bamboo poles.  Sometimes, it would be ipil-ipil trees.  Sometimes,  he would slice coconut shells which will turn into charcoal.

But, the most challenging that he would do, which others could not do was cutting coconut trees.  Yes, living coconut trees.  Very few people with even clear eyesight could do this.

His procedure was cutting the tree from the top.  First, he would climb the tree and reach for the fruits and the palm leaves.  If he knew, by the sense of touch that all were dropped to the ground, he would climb beyond the coconut and reach atop the tree.

He would sit on the palms and cut them all.  If he felt that there were no more leaves, he would climb down.  He then would climb down.  He then would count his steps.  If he reached step 5, he would cut that section of the tree, feeling that the cut was diagonal, e.g. one side is slightly higher than the other side.  If he felt that the trunk would now fall, he would place his sharp bolo in the wooden cast called ‘sarongan’ and push the trunk down, calculating that it would not touch and hurt his knees.

He would do this procedure until the entire tree had fallen.  People would pay for his toil.  But, splitting the trunks into firewood was another contract.  This time, he would use an axe like a man with a perfect eyesight.  The trunk, if not split could be used into posts for fence, for wood bridge, for support of flooring, etc.

He died many years ago, but after having a wife.  His wife had a perfect eyesight.  They lived happily for many years.  There was, however, no information if they had children.

But, he died a happy man.  His funeral was simple but long.  The families which he served were there.

This is the story of Pedro, the blind man who refused to beg.  He wanted to earn his money through his sweat.