Forever and ever…

Once again, in his last chapter, Savater still makes us reflect on his words…
He says that although time goes by, there are certain things that do not change: as human beings, we are born, love, fight and die. And as time goes by, we tend to share our life with people who have the same feelings, thoughts, or appearance and the one who thinks differently or is different to us becomes a danger.
I believe that if everybody had thought the same, or had been identical, this world would have been very boring and therefore, you would not have had the oportunity of going on learning from others, this is what I think it is the most important part.
As teacher, we should teach our students that judging by appearances will not lead them to know the real essence of people. Our reasoning power is of no value if our conclusions are based on faulty assumptions.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. (John 7:24)

Politics and Ethics

Two issues that bear a close relation when we talk about being free to choose or take decisions, for example.
Politics pursues the aim of organizing a peaceful coexistence between human beings in a country so everyone can choose what it is convenient for them.
I think that in order to make an opinion about POLITICS you have to know a lot about the political history of a country, that’s why I can not make an opinion about which one was better than other or why we are going through this current situation in our country.
Savater takes into account two aspects:
The Political System of a country has to respect citizen’s freedom of speech, expresion and choice.
And it also has to guarantee assistance of those who need help or suffer financial problems.
Taking these aspects into account I think that there are many examples in which politicians are not taking conscious decisions about what is ethically correct for us as a society.
Although we live in a “democratic” country, sometimes it seems as if we are under a dictatorial regime where nobody feels free of choosing what it is convenient.
Moreover, we don’t have to watch the tv to see that there are many people from the North who have nothing to eat, we just travel by train and you’ll find many poor, dirty children asking for money.
That’s why I wonder where politicians study ethics, why they can’t do anything to solve our problems, why they vigorously pursue their interests and their needs or the needs of few rich people.
Would it be because the ones who voted for them were not responsible at all?

In your shoes, In my shoes…

I think that trying to put ourselves in somebody’s shoes is one of the best way of humanizing when we want to live a better life. To be in somebody’s shoes is to understand why a person does or does not do something.
Non-one else can say what its value to him/her is - only we can be the judge of the decisions we take.
However, It is sometimes very easy to judge somebody when you are not involved in the situation or from what you simply see.
Sometimes there are some people who behave or react as they can be, and not as they want to, because everyone is different and every human being has a different life.
When a friend ask me to put myself in her shoes, I try to think objectively without thinking she is my friend, if not I’ll be influenced by my feelings.
So don’t judge a book by its cover, the proof of the pudding is in the eating…

Your mind is made up you won’t even try

You didn’t even cry this time

You say that we could never see eye to eye

And one of us just must be blind

We have our differences

We’re still the same

See what we want to see

But you take a second look

And maybe things wouldn’t seem the same

If you could see what you mean to me

Put yourself in my shoes

Walk a mile for me

I’ll put myself in your shoes

Maybe then we’d see

That if you put yourself in my shoes

You’d have some sympathy

And if I could only put myself in your shoes

I’d walk right back to me

You’re gonna keep walkin’ and you’re gonna pass me by

You say you don’t even care

But I could always recognize a real good-bye

And I know your heart’s not there

We’ve had our differences

We’re still the same

Hear what we want to hear

Now I’m head over heels in the lost and found

It’s a cryin’ shame

I thought we made the perfect pair

Put yourself in my shoes

Walk a while walk that mile for me

I’ll put myself in your shoes

Maybe then we’d see

That if you put yourself in my shoes

You’d have some sympathy

And if I could only put myself in your shoes

I’d walk right back to me

I’d walk right back to me

I’d walk right back to me

By Clint Black

Blame and Remorse, Conscience and Responsibility

Four single words that have to do with our every day life… who hasn’t ever felt remorse because of something we did or didn’t do? Do we shoulder the blame for what we did or didn’t do? Are we conscious of our acts? Do we assume responsibilities?
This time, the chapter has many topics to talk about, but I’m going to reflect on some quotes that called my attention.
When we talk about blames, sometimes we behave in two different ways: if it is something that has gotten a positive result, we are the first that sing our praises, and we expect everybody to congratulate us. In this example, we don’t call it “blame” but we say, “it thanks to me”.
If it is something that has showed a negative result, we sometimes tend to put the blame on somebody because we don’t want to assume the responsibility of feeling like failers.
It is not from our parents or friends but our own responsibility to live a good life. A person who is reponsible from his/her beahviour is conscious of his/her real freedom, that is to say, he is able to take decisions for his/her own.
What is really important is to know that, from here on, if you take responsibilities, you’ll build up your identity and develop your personality. Every decision will leave a mark on your life or on others.
If you are used to behave well, it will be difficult to behave in the other way about, and vice versa. For example, if you are not used to tell lies, you will be very dissapointed with yourself because it doesn’t really show the way you are and besides, it will go against your feelings.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF TAKING RESPONSIBLITIES, IT WILL HELP YOU GROW...

Living happily

Doing what you want and face the consequences is not a strain when you are a teenager, because you do not take much care about it, but, is it easy to be aware of what you really want at that age? And if Ethics is about discovering how to live better or how to have a good life, why don’t we study ethics at school, when we are younger? Do all parents teach their children how to have a good life? Why isn’t there a book about how to live correctly as it is about Geography or Maths? So, we start learning how to live good, step by step...
When you become an adult you consider the consequences and know what you want, you also must respect people are around you. If you treat a person as if he was a furniture you will find out that the same will happen when somebody treats you. This is what Savater reflects on in this chapter. So, it is not only important to live a good life but make others live a good life, too.
The problem is that sometimes we do not achieve our own aims because we spend our time thinking about what will make feel happy to others.
I couldn’t think about this until I became an adult, I’m still looking for the best way of living, all the time. I’ve just realized that I’ve been scared of taking decisions just because I’m interesting in making others live a good life.
Taking all this into account, I believe that life is about learning to build a balance between what is convenient for me and the people who is around me, what makes them feel happy, without forgetting my own happiness.
As teachers, we should teach our students to find in their feet what makes them feel joyful, respecting others and of course, themselves as human beings.

Let me be...

When I was a teenager, I wondered so many times when I was going to do what I wanted. So much, that I asked to a Psychology teacher: “when am I going to become independent?”
I remember she answered, “when you would be financiary independent”. But I have to tell you that she didn´t give me a hand. I think that she couldn’t understand what I was talking about. I was talking about of taking decisions freely. It was as if I was always looking for my parents’ disaprroval.
Today, I wonder what would have happened if Savater had been my dad and had told me, “do what you what”. It would have been a disaster!!. Because as a teenager, I wouldn’t have thought twice before making a decision and many of the results wouldn’t be convinient for me or for others. But thinking this twice I wonder what have have happened?? Who knows….
Now, as an adult, I wish I was a teenager to have the same energy to decide on issues without being scared of (bad) consequences.

When choosing is sometimes so difficult…

There are times when we are tired out of deciding which is the best for our lives, we think that there’s no solution for some problems so we feel we are in a dead end.
According to Savater in chapter 2, our behaviours on deciding on such things are conditioned by “orders”, “customs” or “whims”.
Orders come to our life when we are children, parents do not tell us why we have to do it, but just do it! Customs are born with us and it is just like that, we cannot choose anything. Both orders and customs come from the outside, that is to say that we are not free to choose.
But on the other hand, whims are what we like, or we prefer to do, we have no reason to do it. Sometimes we react in a way in some siuations in oder to go against others.
Reflecting on this, in difficult situations we cannot indulge our whims but try to do what is convenient for us without forgetting others.
We have to learn to think twice before we make decisions that can change our life forever.

What’s ETHICS for you?

There is no time when we are caught in this dilemma of being ethical in every aspect of our lives. We always need to consider the moral consequences of our actions and the ethical choices we make.
At the very beginning of Savater’s book in Etica para Amador, he reflects on how moral principles are a essential part in regards to education.
He tries to explain his son, Amador, what ethics is about for giving him the freedom of thoughts and choices of what is ethically right and wrong. It will make him think critically and voice his opinion.
It is his intelligence which will allow him to do his best when choosing what to do.
Reflecting on this, we know that our parents are our first educators, as teachers we share with them the responsibility of building students personalities and to make them think intelligently.