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 is there between right and wrong?

As human beings, we are free to choose what is advisable for us. This is what Savater insists on in his first chapter: De qué va la Etica.

We are free to fulfil our destiny as long as we are sure what we want for our lives. It depends on our force of will to achieve the aims we have in mind without disturbing other people's lives.

Being free to think critically is to get involved in what we believe is ethically correct.

But, what happens if we get involved?

Sometimes we want to be liked so as to belong to a group of people and we say "YES" when actually we really mean "NO". We do not want to run the risk of failing because we are afraid of not belonging to that group anymore. It is easier to keep our thoughts to ourselves than to speak our mind.

Although it is more difficult, as teachers, we have the opportunity to commit ourselves to working hard and leading our students to the correct path.

As Savater says,

Ethics is the art of
living.

So, let's give it a try!!

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.