Growing up with Christian parents was a roller coaster of emotions.

They thought me how

to be and not to be. The do's and do not’s, every action was always based on the Bible. I grew up

to follow rules and live in a Christian way. To obey the elderly, do not steal, to go to church every

Sunday, love your enemy, help the people in need, to be humble, to be generous, to be obedient

and such. My father even let me memorize the bible verse, Proverbs 22:6 which says, “Train up a

child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Those things were

the guidelines and what I based in every decision and action I make. Those values are who built

me up and what became part of who I am. My views and opinions towards things were highly

influenced with various values. These values were my bread and butter. If I didn’t follow them, I

would be scolded, and it is a “sin” to not follow them. To clear things up, I have nothing against

those. But as I grew up those values inflicted in me were tested.

As I embarked into the social world, I met several kinds of people. With those experiences,

I came to a point where I question them. I had this discussion sort of debate when I was in Grade

10 wherein, we talked about which to follow, “Tama o Mabuti?”. This is where I ask things like,

“what’s their difference?”, “who even dictates what’s right or good?”. I just realized that what’s

“right” would not always be “good”, and what’s “good” would not always be “right”. Like my

parents told me not to cheat, I know that, that is the right thing to do but as a friend to my classmate,

I let him copy my answers because I know it is the good thing to do, to help my friend in need.

Well it is also the right thing to help others, but I think based on my moral values inflicted as I

grew up, the mode in which I helped my friend is wrong. Another example is when we had our

philosophical discussion in Ethics 1. The Latimer case, Mr. Latimer’s side or Tracy Latimer’s side.

It may be good for others, but it is not right, “the parent doesn’t want to see his daughter suffering

anymore so he ended her life.” but for others, it is right but it is not good, “letting Tracy Latimer

1
have a chance to live while suffering for life.1 There are many things that put my moral values in

test and it is a struggle for me. I even came to the point that I lost my “faith”. I even thought that

the idea of going to Church is very suffocating.

As I grew up, these moral values were sorted, some were retained, some were replaced.

Although they are still my basis for every decision and action I make, there are still times that I do

not follow them depending on the situation. I analyze the situation first and think of it whether

these values are applicable to it or not. In our lecture in Ethics 1, were discussed two standpoints

of reasoning, the Theoretical and Practical. Theoretical was more of scientific, more of explanation

while Practical is more of the moral problems and more of values.2 Well I used a little of something

of both types. But I am more of Practical. I would always address my moral values in every

decision I make but there will always be a deviation that is where the theoretical reasoning comes

in.

Nevertheless, moral values are part of human beings. And as Filipinos, we value them a

lot. It became more of a tradition even though there will always be a point where we find them

unreasonable. But in the end, they became a huge part of who we are and played a big part in our

lives, in every decision, action and standpoint in our lives.

1
Lecture 1, Philosophical Discussion 2, February 1, 2019
2
Ibd., January 30, 2019