AFTER watching the movie "Hachi: A Dog's Tale" back in 2009, my wife and I began our admiration about the inspiring true story of a Japanese dog named Hachiko.
And it's because of the same movie that we included a Hachiko statue in Shibuya, Japan as one of the places to go in our travel bucket list.
It took us ten long years to make the dream a reality and our visit was one year in preparation.
Hachiko was an Akita breed dog in Japan. He was remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his Japanese master, a professor, whom he continued to be loyal for almost a decade following the owner's death.
The dog would meet his master at Shibuya Train Station every single day until the owner's death from cerebral hemorrhage on May 21, 1925 while at work.
Even then, Hachiko would return to his favorite spot at Shibuya station every day for nine years to wait for his owner's return until his death in 1935.
Just this year in the Philippines, a similar touching story went trending when a dog named Buboy continues to visit the classroom to meet his pal, a teacher from Mabalacat.
The poor dog wasn't aware that his buddy had already passed away. The viral video is the reason why netizens started calling him Pinoy Hachiko.
We should learn from the life stories of Hachiko and Buboy. Let their tales hold up in our Filipino and Kapampangan culture as an example of loyalty and true friendship. The faithfulness of the dog impressed the people to which all should strive to accomplish.
Unfortunately, there are heart-breaking stories of longtime friends that got separated because of traitorousness.
Some parted ways by means of entertaining personal ambition like in politics. And such subversive behavior breaks the foundation of the morally binding force of what once started as good and honorable.
Other people tend to wear invisible masks to cover their real agenda. And then they end up overpraising some dude they barely know just because he got the dough.
We can discover values from our furry friends. As for Hachiko and Buboy, despite having paws instead of hands, acted more humanly, not like a cold-blooded reptile.
They exhibited the quality of trueness and loyalty. We should pick up from them. Know the trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose.
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Kuya J Pelayo IV is a Kapampangan broadcast journalist. For comments and suggestions, e-mail at 4th.pelayo@gmail.com