THE PROFESSIONAL SIBLINGS MOCKED THEIR FARMER BROTHER AT A FAMILY REUNION.
“YOU’RE ALWAYS COVERED IN MUD, KUYA — WE’RE ALL DRIVING CARS NOW,” THEY JEERED WHILE BOASTING ABOUT THEIR SUCCESS.
BUT EVERYONE FELL SILENT WHEN THE MAYOR ARRIVED AND PAID RESPECT TO THE FARMER.
It was the grand family reunion of the Reyes family, held at their old ancestral house in the province.
The youngest brother, Ricky, an engineer, arrived in a brand-new Ford Everest.
Next came Sheila, a doctor, driving a shiny Fortuner.
Then Ben, an accountant, pulled in with his Civic.
They stood in the garage, bragging to one another.
“Wow, Ricky, another new car!” Sheila exclaimed.
“Of course — I’m a Project Manager now. And you too, Doc, your car is gleaming!”
In the middle of their chatter, their eldest brother Kuya Carding arrived.
He came riding an old hand tractor.
He wore a faded polo shirt, a woven buri hat, and boots caked with mud.
The siblings looked at him with disgust.
“Good grief, Kuya!” Ricky snapped.
“This is a reunion, not a rice field! Why are you dressed like that? You’ll dirty the tiles with all that mud!”
“Sorry,” Carding said with a gentle smile, wiping sweat from his face.
“I just came from harvesting. It would’ve been a waste of time to go home and change.”
Sheila rolled her eyes.
“Good thing we studied hard and got scholarships back then. If not, we might’ve ended up farmers like you — no progress in life.”
“Exactly,” Ben added.
“Look at us — we drive cars. You still smell like soil. What a waste, Kuya. You should’ve worked harder.”
Carding didn’t reply.
He simply went into the kitchen to help their mother prepare the food, letting the insults pass.
While they were eating, a police siren suddenly wailed outside.
A convoy of black SUVs stopped at the gate.
The Mayor stepped out with bodyguards and councilors.
Ricky, Sheila, and Ben panicked.
“That’s the Mayor!” Ricky whispered.
“Fix yourselves! This is a great connection for my business!”
They rushed forward.
“Good morning, Mayor!” Sheila said eagerly, extending her hand.
“I’m Dr. Sheila Reyes. Here’s my card—”
But the Mayor walked past them without even a glance.
He went straight to the kitchen, where Carding was washing dishes.
Everyone froze when the Mayor bowed respectfully and took Carding’s hand.
“Ninong Carding!” the Mayor said warmly.
“Sorry I’m late — I just came from a meeting.”
Ricky, Sheila, and Ben were stunned.
“M-Mayor…” Ricky stammered.
“You… you know our brother? The… farmer?”
The Mayor laughed.
“A farmer?” he said.
“Don’t you know? Don Carding is the wealthiest landowner in the entire province!
He owns the land where the mall, the subdivision, and even the university stand!
He’s our top taxpayer!”
The siblings turned pale.
“And more importantly,” the Mayor added,
“he is the one who funded the scholarship program.”
Their mother, who had been silent, stepped forward with tears in her eyes.
“My children…” she said softly.
“Do you remember the Foundation Scholarship that paid for your college education — the one you thought came from the government?”
The three nodded nervously.
“That didn’t come from the government.
That money came from your brother Carding.”
They were speechless.
“When your father died,” their mother explained,
“your eldest brother chose to stop studying and farm our land instead.
Every peso he earned, he gave to me to pay your tuition.
He told me: ‘Nay, tell them it’s a scholarship so they won’t feel ashamed, and so they’ll study hard.’”
She looked at Carding, who stood quietly with his head lowered.
“The cars you brag about…
The degrees you used to look down on your brother…
You owe all of that to the mud on his boots.”
The silence crushed their arrogance.
The man they mocked…
The man they despised…
Was the very reason they stood where they were.
One by one, they approached Carding.
Ricky knelt down and hugged his brother’s legs.
“Kuya… I’m sorry,” he sobbed.
“We’re terrible. We’re ungrateful!”
Sheila and Ben cried as well.
“Please forgive us, Kuya… thank you for everything…”
Carding smiled and embraced them.
“It’s alright,” he said gently.
“What matters is that you finished your studies. Your success… is my success too.”
That day, the siblings learned that a person’s worth is not measured by clean clothes or fancy titles.
Because sometimes, the hands covered in mud are the very hands that lift others toward success.