COMMENTARY

[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]

[av_heading heading=’Go back to the basic: An answer to the issue on Morality’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY THE SONS OF CONFUCIUS PHILOSOPHICAL CLUB OF ST. VINCENT FERRER SEMINARY
[/av_heading]

[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]

ARTICLES and commentaries on newspapers contain perverse commission of crime and law violations. Televisions, radios and internet broadcasts news and documentaries regarding war, drugs, human rights violations, juvenile delinquency, conflict and death.
Every Filipino, educated or not, talks about recent issues and each one has a comment on a particular dispute. We are now in the era of technology and scientific reasoning. Our knowledge about what is happening around us through mass media and social media communications should influence us to do something.
Aren’t these things issues on morality? If these situations prompt us to correct what is wrong and what is seemingly acceptable yet morally erroneous, then we have to do something to stop what is unjust and uphold what is morally right. Then, what is moral and what do we mean when we say ethics?
Moral is concerning about the principle of determining what is right from what is wrong. Likewise, ethics refers to the branch of knowledge pertaining to moral principles.
Kung Fu Tzu known as “Confucius”, a Chinese philosopher stabilized this philosophy in Morals and Ethics. The most famous line he had said was the Golden Rule, “Do not do unto others, what you don’t want others will do unto you.” What does this quotation imply?
This is not talking about vengeance or doing the same thing towards others. This is more of a challenge to cater each member of the community especially the lost, the least and the last.
The rising bias between the bad and the good is very crucial at this point of time wherein everything seemed to be rationalized by technology and human understanding. It is just like we are to jump from a 10-storey building only to prove if we will die or hold the burnt charcoal in order to justify that it is really hot.
People sometimes lack awareness. The rising crime committed by children and adults ages 9-24 is something above the normal situation. When and where do all this things happen?
These orientations on wrong perceptions rooted primarily at home where the baby will be born. The house will be the cradle of his human formation as an individual. More or less, half of these children who involved themselves in drugs, prostitution and crimes are those who have no parents to teach them the way things should be. There is nobody to correct them while they are still young and malleable.
Confucius’ philosophy anchors on the basic norm of changing people and making them aware; thus, educate them! If the first orientation of the baby while still inside his mother’s womb is rejection, what is expected from him when he enters the world of consciousness.
Cited problem on juvenile delinquency starts at home. As to the application of the golden rule, it is important for the parents to both guide their children in making them aware of the good and righteous things from the perverse one. In some sense, if the child is not aware of what is the right thing to do, he might be influenced by other people. Likewise, if a child is well-trained to do good, the tendency is to do what is proper and go against what is improper.
We are challenged by the Golden Rule not only to live a morally upright way of living in the community but also to develop the moral and ethics of the family as the basic unit of the society for the betterment of the country – Philippines.
There is only one worthwhile purpose man can have in life. It is to be good and to be complete. It is always doing what is right. For Confucius, the good of the society depends on the development of the individual towards a higher and common good.
Becoming a man is overcoming oneself. It is sacrificing our own selfish desires for the good of the many. One is an intelligent person if he can distinguish what is right from what is wrong. A courageous man that signifies what is right is overcoming fear amidst life’s adversities for courage is the standard of all human acts. To be morally upright is becoming a complete man.
Again, if situations prompt us to correct what is wrong and what is seemingly acceptable yet morally erroneous, then we have to do something to stop what is unjust and uphold what is morally right.
Thousands are already laid to rest because of the war on drugs by the present administration. The Senate discussion and even the involved senators seem to be unruly and morally offensive. Person to person throwing of issues and some Filipinos enjoy watching and listening to this. Government officials and high ranking officers mock people, curse their fellow Filipino and speak unpleasant languages in front of television and interviews. Killings are as if ordinary and common today for the sake of eradicating drugs and other crime-involved personalities.
These things are dreadful. These are extreme responses and our leaders or even we, common people, close our eyes and ears to see and listen to the battlecry of justice and morality. The end does not always justify the means. We know that all these things have a good intention. We uphold the intention to fight against illegal drugs yet extra-judicial killing is something alarming and improper. We support the government to establish peace in the Philippines, yet seeing them quarrelling with each other in the senate as if they are like cats and dogs is something that can destroy the image of our government as an institution.
Our officials are geared with intelligence and abilities yet they act as if they are not because they tend to become irrational and illogical with their reasoning and defense. We elect leaders that can serve the Filipino people in justice and sincerity through their intelligence yet our leaders seem to forget the basic thing that they had learned from their basic education – good moral and right conduct.
Attitude is the root cause of the problem of peace and criminalities in the Philippines. It is never about drugs or rebellion. We cannot stop all these crimes unless we start to educate at home. It is in the home that we should start eradicating the tendency of the child to look for their happiness on drugs and search for acceptance in the fraternity of rebellious groups.
To end, this is a call for all Filipino family. We are already disturbed and are suffocated by bad news and tremendous killing aired on mass media. Many families had already lost their loved ones because of these killings.
The war is no longer about Filipinos versus other nations but Filipinos against fellow Filipinos. We should ask ourselves, “Sa diin ini nagahalin?” (Where is this coming from?). If we look back on the real cause of the problem, we can really offer a solution to the problem which is morally upright and acceptable. And this should start at HOME./PN

[/av_textblock]

[/av_one_full]