“Sa 30 ka tuig nga pagupdanay namon sang akon bana asta siya mapatay nangin miserable kag budlay guid ang pangabuhi ko kag sang akon mga kabataan kay tama guid ka istrikto sang iya, tama mag disiplinana sa amon mga kabataan,kag maabtik ang kamot manakit. Ako gani may mga beses nga basta akig siya kag wala sa modo, ginatampa niya ako kag iban pa, pro indi man guid grabe nga pagsakit. Palangga niya ako kag malambing sa iya, mo lang na galing istrikto kag mapintas basta init ulo niya. May ara man gani nga mga tsismis nga may mga babaye ukon kirida siya. Masakit batyagon ang tanan nga ginpang-agyan ko upod sa iya. Wala guid ako nagpadaog sa akon kaluya kag kahuyang, nangin mabakod guid ako kag ‘pirmi ko ginapinsar kag ginabutang sa panghuna-huna ko nga dapat mangin mapinasensiyahon kag mapinatawaron guid ako.’ Wala guid ako gapaapekto sa mga nagakahanabo sa amon pamilya. ‘Ginapalapad kag ginamayo ko lang guid ang mga panan-awan kag panindugan sa kabuhi ko.’ Nangin positibo guid ko pirmi biskan tama na kabudlay kay indi ko gusto makit-an sang akon mga kabataan nga nagahibi kag naga-surrender ako. Amo ni subong, nagapasalamat guid ako kay biskan amo to ang napang-agyan namon, masadya kag naga-ugyunanay ang akon mga kabataan. Kit-an kag bal-an mo man to siguri sang diri ka nag-tinir sa amon sang pag pastoral niyo ligad tuig.Gatinguha man sila sa ila pagpangabuhi kag nagasharay lang kami kung ano may-ara ang isa kag isa.”

A mother has a very great role and part in order for the family to sustain its harmony, peace, strength, unity and serenity. She is considered as the light of the family. Her presence uplifts and strengthens the bond of the family. She shows and gives more care and love for the family. She has to be flexible enough in dealing with her husband and children. Like of Nay Amelia, she has been a good example as a mother for a family. Despite the hardships, struggles and pains she experienced in life, she brought an aura of a true Filipino mother who is patient, loving, caring, brave, hardworking and God-fearing. She believed in her perspective in life that patience is a virtue and be positive always in dealing life’s challenges.

In connection to Platonic view which speaks about the world of ideas, ideals, use of reasons and critical thinking in order to attain truth and perfection in life, Nay Amelia Danay was not being affected and being controlled by the sufferings she experienced and saw especially from the cruelty of his husband, in other word, she was not troubled by what she witnessed and saw in the world of senses or in reality. Her positive outlook or point of view in life which she always put in her mind or idea made her strong enough to face the trials in life. Focusing on the world of senses or reality that seeing her husband becoming cruel and brutal to her and to their children does not actually help to solve the problems. It is truly painful and hard but she has to be positive and courageous in seeing life. 

All of us humans have different views in life. We have different views in looking at things, situations, life in general and we have different priorities. It is because we are subjective in nature. Not all the time, our views are the same with that of others. There are really times that we are the same with theirs and there are also times that we are different with theirs. Our view in life is important. Aside from the difference in views, we also have different stories in life. In this paper of mine, I want to share what was shared to me by the one I interviewed in our requirements in the subjects Ancient Philosophy and Filipino Philosophy about the story of his life and his views in life.. He was just a simple man with a unique story and view in life.

I interviewed one of the common faces we seminarians would often see, but not all of us know him. He is Vicente Gonzales. We know him in his nickname “Itik.” We would often call him “Nung Itik” to show our respect to him. Nung Itik is presently working in the parish of Our Lady of Candles, Jaro Cathedral. He is a parish driver. He serves humbly and passionately the church through driving the priests at the Cathedral. He was born here in Iloilo. His father was an Ilonggo while his mother was a Tagala (from Laguna). In his early years, he lived in Laguna. During his fourth grade, his grandfather got him from his parents and brought him here in Iloilo. He had his first year and second year high school at the Iloilo National High School. He had his third year and fourth year at the Pius. He had his college at De Paul College taking “COMSEC”/ Computer Secretariat. While he was still a student, he sacrificed going to school every time there is a busy schedule in the parish. He did not finish his college.

He started working at the Cathedral at the age of ten as a sacristan because his grandfather was the sacristan major during those times. When his grandfather retired, he became the sacristan major. He was a sacristan major for almost eighteen years. During the time of Msgr. Escañan, he resigned as a sacristan major. After that, he became a driver at the Segovia Nissan for almost two years. After working as a driver at the Segovia, he worked at Saudi Arabia in a “Dairy Processing” for two years. After his contract at Saudi, he returned here in the Philippines and worked again in Cathedral as a driver because his family needs his presence. Presently, if we total the years of his work at the cathedral, it is near to thirty years.

Nung Itik’s Desires in Life

Nung Itik has a complete family. His wife works at DTI. They have two children, one male and one female. His elder son is now a father. That is to say that Nung Itik is now a grandfather. His son became a father at the age of seventeen. He is still studying at the present. His daughter is taking Hotel and Restaurant Management.

One of the desires of Nung Itik when he was still in his early age was to become a priest. He did not enter the seminary and pursue priesthood because he had it in his mind that it is hard to become a priest. He said that priests are intelligent because they give homilies in the mass. They must be fluent speakers. Because of his high expectations for priesthood, he did not tried to be one.

Aside from Nung Itik’s desire for the priesthood (in his early age), he has also desires for his family. First, he desired that his son will become a priest. His son didn’t want to become one. It did not materialize because his son now is a “padre de pamilya.” Second, he desired that his daughter can finish her studies. Third, he desired that his grandson will become a priest in someday. He wants his early desire for priesthood to materialize in his grandson. Fourth, he desires success for every member of his family (especially to his children and grandson). Lastly, as a driver and a father, he also desires to have a car (even the simple one) because he wants to have bonding with his family and bring them in other places. These desires mentioned by Nung Itik are just some of his dreams in life that if will come to reality, he will feel fulfillment.

Plato’s Theory of Form

Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and Science. (Wikipedia)

Plato is known in his Theory of Form. For Plato, there are two worlds. These are the World of ideas and the World of senses. They are different worlds because in the World of Ideas, all perfections exist while in the World of Senses, matters and imperfections exist. The Form exists in the World of Ideas. In Plato’s philosophy, the soul came from the World of Ideas. It is imprisoned inside the body which is a matter. Matters exist in the world of senses. The soul cannot remember everything in the World of Ideas. What he can do is to try to “remember” what exist there (World of Ideas). While the soul is imprisoned inside the body, he “yearns” and “craves” to know whatever is in the world of forms, and to recall whatever  is in the World of Ideas.

Connection of Plato’s Philosophy in Nung Itik’s View

As what I have observed, Nung Itik’s view in life had some platonic flavor. In Nung Itik’s desires in life, we can apply Plato’s Theory of Form. Nung Itik’s desires in life that are not achieved or still in the process of achieving exist in the world of forms. They exist in the world of forms because they are just potential to happen and not actual. That is why, Nung Itik “craves” and “yearns” for it to happen/materialize. If it comes to reality, his desires are no longer in the world of ideas, but in the World of Senses. When it is in the World of Senses, one will no longer “yearn” for it. 

            “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are, and you know what you want.”- Lau Tzu

This quotation from Lau Tzu is the one that I found interesting to discuss. All of us humans have desires. These desires are either good or evil. As what I have learned in Economics, humans have “unlimited” wants and needs. These “wants and needs” refer to our “personal desires.” As humans, it is our very nature to desire. Our desire is brought to us by our freedom and will. We desire for anything that can please and satisfy us, for anything that can make us happy and fulfilled. Desires are part of our being human. In my own experience in talking with different people and also in reflecting on my own self, we have the common desire of having a good life, wealth, fame in our chosen field, stable job, and desire for love. We desire these things because our body and soul would ask us to. The body would ask us for whatever that can satisfy it and the soul does the same thing. As our common desires, we desire for wealth for us to buy the things we need and want, and for us to provide the needs of our family. We desire for fame in our chosen field because we want to be known and become popular and to be idolized by people. We desire for a stable job for us not to have problems where to get our income. We desire for possessions for it will tell others about our state in life. These desires are present deep w/ in our hearts, w/in our soul, deep w/in our person.

The quotation above from Lau Tzu teaches us that we can know our desires by focusing in our inner self. In going deep w/ in, we can know what we really want in life and what is really important for us. We can even know who we are as person. In my own analysis, Lau Tzu refers to what we call “meditation.” Through meditation, we can know our self w/in and our burning desires. That is why we seminarians are encouraged to meditate during the vacant period after the prayers for us to really know who we are and what we really want in our life. Meditation is a big help especially in finding what can make us happy as we live.

As what I have said earlier, our desires are either good or bad. Not all the time, these desires of ours are good. We desire for good things and we also desire for evil things. Often times, these desires of ours are selfish and self-centered which leads us to commit sin. Sometimes, the desire itself is a sin (like for example- Lust).  Aside from meditation, which is going inside our self, going deep w/in our person, another thing that we should practice is discernment. Discernment is the process of evaluating our self to what decisions we will make in our life. This is not only an ordinary decision-making but it is a critical decision-making. In our life, we must discern also with the things that we desire. As we discern, we ask our self if these desires of ours are for the good or evil. Through meditation, we know our self and we also know our personal desires (as what I have understand in Lau Tzu’s words) but with the help of discernment, we can know what among these desires of ours are good and according to the will of God and what among these are evil. Remember, not everything we desire are good. We must learn to distinguish the good from evil and eliminate whatever is evil. That is why discernment is very important. In relation to our discernment (seminarians), we seminarians are also humans. As human beings, our natural tendency is to find a partner in life, to find someone to be with for the rest of our life. That is why, seminarians also desire of getting married. I believe that this desire is strong for we are but humans. If we will just follow our natural desire of getting married, for sure no one among us seminarians will go on for priesthood because all of us desire for getting married. With the help of discernment on the other hand, no matter we have a desire for getting married, if according to our discernment we are for the priesthood, we will choose the priesthood.

Desires have been part of our being human. We desire for our needs, for what we want until we desire for more of it. If we will just follow our desires, we will never be satisfied. Not everything we desire is good. Often times, we desire for pleasurable but evil things. That is why we need to discern our decisions and actions in life. One wrong move could change our life. Discernment is important in one’s life because through it, we will know what among our desires could make us happier, what among our desires are the greater good.

 “Act without expectation.” In my own understanding, act here refers to all good doings and deeds you do like an act of sharing, giving, helping, loving, performing, caring, serving, listening, comforting and advising. These are acts of goodness that are appreciative, overwhelming, pleasing, grateful, heartwarming and gratifying. And it is our attitude and tendency as human beings that in every good action that we did, we are in great expectation of receiving a reward or return and good results. We are expecting for something in return, appreciation, affirmation, positive response, gratitude, thankfulness, honor, merits, acknowledgement, and recognition. And if we are not being affirmed and appreciated, we may be upset, depressed, saddened, dismayed, discourage and disheartened.

Most of us are unconsciously self-centered to the outcome of what we do. We have our expectations in every action we did. When we perform every action with an eye on its outcome, we get lost in the end and we do not enjoy and cherish the means of getting to the end. However, when we perform some actions for an expression of joy or delight and do not bother or worry about the result, the action itself will surely bring fulfillment, contentment and happiness to us. When we are expecting in advance positive results and outcome to the action we do or perform, the action becomes inferior and meaningless. We will never feel happy or contented. Because of this, we tend to stop anymore of doing goodness to others. We lack self-confidence and trust to ourselves. We are afraid anymore of showing and sharing what we have to others. We may feel hatred to others. We may feel unhappiness and discontentment in life. We may feel self-pity and depression. We may always seek for attraction and recognition. We may have difficulty in accepting failures or negative results of our action. Expectations create fear because we think that what we desire may or may not happen. Having expectations about how our desires should manifest will produce negative feelings when our expectations are not met. We may surely experience and encounter all these negative consequences and behaviors in life if we keep focusing more on our expectations to the outcome of our actions. Anxiety about the outcome of our action is what pulls us down. At the beginning of our action, if we start worrying, then our whole enthusiasm for the beginning gets lessen. What I am trying to point out here is that, when we are aware of our potential, we just jump into action without bothering about the result. That is why it is better to act on our intention without expectations. When we give without expecting something in return, we actually open ourselves to a completely difference experience. We will surely feel true happiness, contentment and fulfillment. We are happy and contented of giving and sharing what we have and who we are to others. We are happy and contented of seeing others happy too of what we have done and shared to them. We are happy, satisfied and proud to ourselves of what we have done although others did not appreciate it. When we give without wanting anything in return, it opens up our heart to an enhanced sense of peace, love and joy. When we give without expectation will lift up our personal awareness to others. As a result, we will become more compassionate to others. We have to bear in our mind and heart that when we give freely without much expectation, it can come back to us in some very unpredictable way. Truly, it is a most meaningful experience when we are able to live a life with an attitude of no expectations. Free of expectations, we can just go with the flow and enjoy every action we do and we are not affected by the outcomes that we may encounter. Thus, we have to give what we have without expecting to receive anything in return. We have to give lovingly and joyously. Living a life without much expectation is worth living.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu

As human beings, it is by our nature that we are different from one another, both physically and mentally. We are different from the way we think, talk, relate, behave, fashion, etc. All of these, somehow, make us unique or distinct from one another. Even the identical tweens, though they are true identical in their physical appearance but they will be difference in their behavior. In life, we have also what we call “biases” which usually we put ourselves as a center of it. Our tendency always is to serve ourselves before serving others. It is really our very nature that we secure ourselves first before the others. But if we are aiming to make our life to its fullness, we should jump out from this kind of perspective, being subjective. We should enter ourselves into the wider perspective of the world view. Why? If we only base the world and its vastness according only in our own knowledge or perspective about it, it will only be limited, because given the fact that there are so many things out there that we haven’t know yet. It also the reason why there is a teacher among the students, because as a person having already so many experiences and learnings he will serve as a guide to the students and bring them and show to them the reality of life. It is in this way that makes a teacher a teacher and a student a student. A teacher can only be a good teacher if he is going to take away from him his biases and walk the way towards his being as a good teacher. A student can only be a good student if he is going to let go his own biases and walk the path that will lead him to become a good student. Letting go of something doesn’t always mean creating a great lose on our part, but sometimes we need to give up something in order to gain greater things.

The idea of letting go of oneself in order for him to become what he might be is very particular in the seminary formation. We all know that seminary formation is given to those who want to become good priests someday. It is a training that needs self-abandonment so that it can be truly lived out by the individuals who are undergoing it. The self-abandonment that I mean is that the individuals should give up their own designs in life a d follow the discipline that is given to them. Let me use my own experiences as my concrete example. As a seminarian and a student I need to rely myself to my formators and teachers so that I can have my seminary formation. I can’t have my seminary formation if I’m going to do it alone myself. It will be very difficult for me to learn Philosophy if I’m not going to seek the aid of my teachers in Philosophy. It will be very difficult for me to understand Theology if I’m not going to ask something about it from my teachers in Theology. It will be very difficult for me to understand Peer Formation if won’t allow my brother seminarians to correct me. As a whole, I can’t have a seminary formation if I will be doing it alone, or even tell myself that I’m the seminary formation, because seminary formation is not only made by a single individual but it is composed of a group (community) of people who are joining hands together in order to create a good kind of training that will make young men good priests someday. I need to submit myself to my seminary formation so that I can be what it want me to be- an integrated human person, Christ-centered, apostolic proclaimer, and a contemplative pastor.

It is very true that we find it so hard to give up our own designs in our lives. But it is a fact also that we have to give these things in us in order to gain more, because there are things in us that are, somehow, not really useful and preventing us to grow in our wisdom. That is why sometimes we need also to empty ourselves and to eliminate the unuseful ideas within us so that we can put another knowledge which is very helpful and will lead us to what we might be- to our success in life!

“Friends are siblings God never gave us”- Mencius

All of us humans have friends. We have friends because we want to have companions in our journey towards life. Friends are God’s gift to us. Their presence shows the great goodness of God. If our family is our closest group of people, our friends are the second group of people closest to us. In life, it is really good to have friends. Aside from our family, it is through our friends that we can savor the great importance of others’ existence, that we need others for us to survive in life.

We humans are relational beings. It is the nature of man to relate with others. One needs others and others also need others. We have friends because we don’t want to be alone in life. Living w/out any established relationship with others is really a sad and lonely life. Because we humans are relational in nature, we find someone to relate with. I choose the quote of Mencius on friends because I want to emphasize in my paper the importance of others’ existence and I want to relate this to Heidegger’s “Mitsein.”

“Mitsein” in Heidegger’s philosophy means “being-with.” “To be with” needs an other. In “being-with-the-other”, relationship starts. Friendship starts in “being-with-the-other.” The more the “being-with-the-other”, the more the relationship grows and the more it becomes deeper. It is only possible if there is an effort exerted both from the ego and the other to deepen their relationship.

Here in the seminary, “being-with” is highly emphasized especially the “being-with-the-community.” Community act and community living is highlighted here in the seminary. Everything is communal act. Because here in the seminary, we have more time in “being-with-the-other” (the same persons-everyday), the more our relationship with our friends and brothers seminarians, priest formators, faculty and staff grow deeper. That is why, as what I have observed, when seminarians go out of the portals of the seminary, they are still close with each other because of their many experiences of “being-with.” The brotherhood and friendship in the seminary is really intense compared to the brotherhood and friendship of other people outside. Same also happens with the priest-formators, and the faculty and staff of the seminary.

Like our family, our friends are important to each and every one of us. They play a big role in our life. If we can share exclusive matters with our family, there are also matters that we can only open up with our friends. If we have problems, we can also ask the help of our friends. They can also give us advice and their views in our problems. If they cannot, at least they are with us listening.

Friendship is the best example of Heidegger’s “Mitsein.” Friendship starts w/ “being-with.” Through the “being-with-the-other”, relationship starts. With each other’s efforts, it continues to grow. The “being-with” shows that we cannot live w/out others. What I mean is that we cannot last long in this world if other human beings like us do not exist. That is why in the book of Genesis, when Adam told God that he cannot see anyone like him, God immediately gave Eve to Adam for him to have a partner, to have an alter ego (another ego). It is also similar in friendship. W/out any friends, we will live a sad and lonely life. That is why it is really important for us humans to find friends while we are living. The more we have friends, the more we relate, the more we affirm our being human (for we humans are relational in nature).

According to Mencius, “friends are siblings God never gave us.” For me, no matter we and our friends are not siblings biologically, still we are siblings with our Father God who created us all. Let us always remember that being relational is our very nature as human beings. Relating with other beings such as our family and friends affirm more our being human. The more we relate, the more we are human, the more we become persons. Remember, our friends have important role in our lives. Aside from our family, they are the “other” that we need which can affirm our being human by relating with them. 

“Commiseration is the principle of benevolence.” Commiseration defined as a feeling or expression of pity or sorrow, while benevolence is the disposition of one’s self to do good, a disposition made up of choice and desire for the happiness of others. With the given definitions of related two terms, we could clearly see and reflect that indeed they have a closer connection.  Commiseration and benevolence are both positive attitudes that a good man possess. Indeed, Mencius is true to his statement, that commiseration is the principle of benevolence. Commiseration is one of the best ingredients for a person to become benevolent and charitable to others. Commiseration as an expression of giving sympathy to others means that a person feels the emotions and expression that others also feel. There is a similar feeling in another person, a shared feeling. There is a sharing of unhappiness and suffering. There is an awareness to what others feelings and emotions. This good attitude or value leads a person to become sensitive to the feelings and needs of others, to become selfless in serving, in helping and in loving, to become a good listener and adviser, to become a man for others, to become a light to those who are in great despair and sufferings, to become a good companion and friend to others, to become a good person as a whole. With this simple act of goodness to others which is the sharing of expression of sadness or commiserating, a person’s whole being is being molded into a good, more mature and well- pleased behavior. A person expresses his pity and sympathy to others because it simply shows that he cares, understands, worries, and loves them. He has able to realize and see that as a brother to others he has to show his concern to them, to give also himself in listening and in comforting them, and to make grateful and good things to others that could bring happiness to their faces and comfort or relief to their unbearable loneliness and burdens. With your act of goodness to others, they are not the only one benefiting, but you are the one benefiting more. You may feel happier and more fulfilled in life.

People are very busy these days to care about their studies, personal needs and wants, careers, concerns and hobbies. There is no time left to be aware and conscious of other’s troubles, to be sensitive to other’s unhappy feelings, and to actually help others to solve their problems. They become more focus and concerned of their selves. They already forgot that others also need their presence. By this, they tend to become selfish, self-centered, insensitive, egocentric and solipsistic individuals. These days people seem to have a lot of things to care about. Kids care about computer games they are going to play, and which programs on TV they are going to see. College students care about how they are going to pass in their course, and who are they going to date. Other people care about how to earn money and to become successful in life. Have we ever care about the feelings of others when they are in great loneliness? Have we ever taken time to commiserate or to feel sympathy to those disables and poor people? Oftentimes, we neglect to develop the value of commiseration or being sympathetic. The commiseration which is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to other’s feelings, thoughts and experiences, is very important not only to ourselves, but also to our whole community. I do believe that chaos, conflicts, misunderstandings, discrimination, crimes, murders, injustices, selfishness, greed and lust still exist and will continue to exist that can ruin and destroy the society is because people forgot to become aware and sensitive to the feelings, emotions, thoughts and experiences of others. They do not the time for others.  This is great call and responsibility to all of us that we must also develop the value of being sympathetic and sensitivity. We do not act as really busy persons. We have to slow and stop for sometime and reflect or meditate. There we will be enlightened and awakened to the reality of life that we have still brothers and sisters that need our very presence, our comfort, good advises, help and support.

“Being wise and good, they have pleasure in these things. If they are not wise and good, though they have these things, they do not find pleasure.” – Mencius

      Being wise and good is a wonderful gift from above. It is a great opportunity for the individual to be a good leader in the community. In fact, it is the ideal characteristic of a true leader. To be good and wise makes the individual to do so many things not only for his own sake, but of others as well. To be good and wise can make the individual different from the others. A wise and good man views life in a different manner on the way other people perceive it. When others see darkness, he saw light. When others consider failure as the end of everything, he considers it as the beginning of a new thing. When others consider life as misery, he finds it something to enjoy and cherish. A wise and good man look at life and its happenings differently than the way others will think about it. That’s the reason why a wise and a good person can truly attain the gift of happiness in life.

To be happy is not an option, but rather it is a choice. For a wise and good person, happiness doesn’t lie alone in material things. In fact, material things can’t give us everlasting joy. Material things are just finite, it has its own limitation. Material things can give us joy at the first hand, but as time goes by it will also fade and can be snatched away from us. A child who needs a tender love and care from his parents can never be happy even if he will be given 10 billion pesos. A widow can never be happy even she receives millions of money form the insurance of his husband. A millionaire can never be happy if he didn’t win the true love of her wife. To have so many properties or money can’t assure as to have a complete or a happy kind of life. To have a higher kind of position in the society will not merit us to have a good and happy kind of life. To be a president of our country can never assure us that we can attain everlasting happiness in life, but instead will even give us burden because of the mediocrity of the stupid people in our country. So it is not happiness but a problem! Material things can never promise us heaven or happiness but most of the time it gives us so many problems and worries that makes us to suffer. I’m not saying here that having enough money or properties will make you unhappy, but what I mean is: we can never be happy if we don’t know how to spend our money or properties for what is good and just.

Happiness can’t be only found in great things or in our higher positions. Happiness can even be found in just small and simple things. A simple dinner and conversation with our love ones will already make us happy. A simple “hello” from our crush will already burst our heart from the happiness it felt. A simple affirmation from our teachers will make us already happy and inspired to learn more about the facts of life. Even a simple answered prayer could already make our day complete. Forgiveness from the person we have sinned could already lighten the burden that we bear inside us.

A true wise and good man knows that there is no need for him to seek things beyond his capacity just to find happiness for himself. A true wise and good man knows how to make himself happy even just in his very simple ways. A true wise and good man knows that his happiness lies on the good things that he is doing, because he knows that material things will be nothing (can make you happy) if he doesn’t know how to use them properly. A true wise and good man knows that true happiness can be also found in doing good things which makes you also feel happy. We can never be happy if we don’t find happiness in whatever we are doing.

What Mencius is trying to say is that, happiness is not an option, but rather it is a choice. We can never be happy with the material things that we have in life. We can only be happy if we try to do good things out of these material things that we have in us – to share the gifts that we have in our less fortunate brothers and sisters, because material things will be useless if we don’t know how to use them wisely. We can only be happy if what we are doing is good and if we become also concerned about the welfare of the others.

The story happened in an island called, Cuyo, in Palawan. The story is about the life of a woman named, Ploning. She is very popular and respected by the people in their place. She is a very kind hearted person. She knows how to get along with other people and make good relationships with them. Being so good and very friendly, she is considered as the adviser of the people, especially when they have problems. She is so very nice in dealing with them and she knows what to say and give in order to help other people with their problems. She gives brilliant advices that can comfort and help those who need them. But eventhough that Ploning has all these goodness within her and had close relations with other people, they still find it difficult to know her true person.

It is said in the story that Ploning had a lover named, Tomas, and a native also in that place. They both love each other. But the conflict happened when Tomas went to Manila leaving Ploning alone in that place. From then on, Ploning still hopes that his lover will come back soon and they will both continue what they have started- their love. Ploning keeps on waiting and waiting until such time that she knew already the fate or what happened to her lover. Tomas. Actually, Tomas went in Manila to have a medication for his sickness. But unfortunately, he didn’t make it. He was not cured, but he died. Upon knowing this, Ploning was so affected of what had happened to her lover, which makes also a great change in her life. In order not to be noticed by the people who are so close to her, she just pretended to be ok all the times, hiding only her true feeling of mourn and frustration. That’s why people also noticed that she loves to hear story from them but she never mentioned to them about her own story, or her love life with Tomas. Her only escape or, somehow, her refuge of her feeling of mourn and frustration is to pour them out through writing them in a peace of paper and keep them that nobody could see or read it. This is her escape from the reality, which made her very different from her true person before.

The character of Ploning best depicts some of the greatest culture of being a Filipino. As Filipinos, like Ploning, we are so respectful and very hospitable all the time. We really give great value with our relationships with other people sharing our thoughts and wild ideas with them- we are fond of making so many friends and make them as our family that we chose for ourselves wherein we are so secured to share to them all our ups and downs- revealing our very person, because we now that they are willing to listen and help us. But the problem with us sometimes is that, we, Filipinos are so good in terms of giving advices and ideas to others but if we are already on the situation same as theirs, we don’t know also what to do and we can’t even apply the ideas and the insights that we are giving to others. We can be a great help in others’ problem but we find it hard to solve our own. The other trait of being Filipino that can be seen in the character of Ploning is that of our “culture of silence.” We, Filipinos because we don’t like the occurrence of conflict in our society, or even in our home, our tendency is just to keep quiet, shut up our mouth, and pretend nothing bad happened. This kind of point of Filipinos view serves as an accomplice to all the anomalies that we are having right now in our society. It doesn’t mean that if we don’t want war or we are not the direct objects, who will be affected mostly of the anomalies in our society, we will remain silent and do nothing. We should think that if it is not us, there will be other innocent people who will be affected and will become defenseless victims of these anomalies that we have in our society. The culture of “hipos-hipos lang” will do nothing for us. Instead, it will bring us more conflicts and problems, just like what happened to Plonning because she kept silent of her feelings, the people who are close to her were no able to help her or to give her inspiration to become who she was before and it would somehow help her to gain back their good relationship of her father.

The movie Ploning, though it is very simple and has a “bitin” ending, it brings about important lessons and insights, especially for us, Filipinos that there are things in our nature, as Filipinos, that we need to give up in order for us to improve more ourselves  so that we can develop a good and progressive society. 

Good Will Hunting is a movie that presents a boy, named Will, who is very genius. He is able to answer mathematical problems easily and immediately by the time he looks up at the problem than the people who works for the problem and find solution for over years or more. It seems like that he is the genius person in the world and here comes Chuckie the old friend of professor Lambeau. He is a psychologist.

During their 4th session when Will open up about the girl, Skylar, whom he dated last week. Will elaborated to Chuckie what he thought about Skylar. That Skylar is beautiful, smart, fun and different from most girls Will have been with. Chuckie insisted to Will to call Skylar for another date. Will answered that if he will go another date Will may realize that Skylar is not that smart and that she’s fucking boring. Skylar is perfect for Will that time and he don’t want to ruin it. Chuckie answered in return that maybe Will is perfect right now for Skylar and that Will don’t want to ruin it.

In the above conversation, I could say that Chuckie uses a Socratic Method towards Will. A “Socratic method was actually intended to demonstrate one’s ignorance.” In that part of the movie, Will was unable to reply to the words of Chuckie “Maybe you’re perfect right now. Maybe you don’t want to ruin that.” Chuckie thrown back to Will the words which Will said to Chuckie. I could see that Will, after hearing that words, slowly changing his mood but Chuckie immediately broke it up with a conversation.

“The essence of the Socratic Method is to convince a person that whereas he thought he knew something, in fact he does not.” It’s true that Will does not know something, that he is just a kid, compared to Will. Will’s ideas and thought are all came from the books that he reads unlike Chuckie who offers, during their session, something based on his experiences. That is why, maybe, Socrated preferred to travel because only through experience that we are able to know and understand things in their own way.

Chuckie wanted to show to Will that the world is big and full of mystery yet the only guide to uncover this things is to follow our heart. It is true that Will has experienced love on Skylar but he is afraid of taking the risk. He wanted to remain in his safest place. But with the help of Chuckie and his friends he is able to go out from a safe place and took the risk of following his heart’s desire.

Socratic Method offers us the reality that human being does know everything. But the best part of knowing everything is not by reading books or getting ideas from others but by experiencing it by our own self. Because of the experiences that we become more mature and able to understand things differently from a person who never experienced it at all.