PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Philosophical Question:
Does LIFE really gets BETTER? or we just get USED to how HARD it is?

Jean-Paul Sartre, a person who has a pursuit of philosophical reflection, once said,

"YOU are---YOUR LIFE and nothing else".

What do you think does it mean? Many of us may interpret this question differently, but let me tell
you what I think through answering a philosophical question. Throughout the lessons that I had
in Philosophy, I have reflected on a lot of things already, may it be on philosophy itself, ethics,
intersubjectivity, and even death. From the last performance task, I have also answered this
question, and after that, I felt that I still had a lot of things to tell, and as a student, it may be hard
to answer such a philosophical question, but now, I am trying to look at the bigger picture and
express the thoughts I have reflected about this question. "Does LIFE really gets BETTER, or
we just get USED to how HARD it is?". My stand to this question is that " LIFE GETS BETTER",
and let us put it this way.

The first point, you WAKE UP in the morning and had at least ONE MEAL for that day,
then simple, that is already a reason why life gets better. Second, LIFE GETS BETTER
BECAUSE YOU ARE FAILING, YOU FALL, AND YOU ALSO LOSE. But people might question,
"Does that even makes sense? How?", it is because when you fail, when you fall, and when you
lose, you are LEARNING and you are becoming a person who is STRONG enough to try again.
Then from this, it means that life gets better. Through my second point, it leads me now to my
third one, LIFE IS BETTER BECAUSE IT IS BECOMING HARDER. Life is indeed hard and
challenging, we may face hindrances, downfall, and yes, failure. But because you accept that life
is normally hard and it is getting harder, it already makes life better because you understand the
circumstances already. To simply put this, let us just say that "NO ONE'S LIFE IS EASY and
LIFE WILL NEVER BECOME TOO EASY", and when life is not hard, then maybe we are taking
the other or the wrong route towards our definition of a "better life".

One may tell that life does not get better because there are people who feel lost currently
in life, or for a long time, or people who have nothing, or maybe people who do not make any
progress in life. This leads me to my fourth point, LIFE DOES NOT STOP, it continues day by
day and every day is always a chance to be a better person and to create better choices and
actions in life. Always remember that what may seem normal to you is a better life for someone,
it does not mean that if you can not feel happiness or you can not feel a better life, then everything
stops there, but no, life continuous and no one can tell when will you receive the better life that
you are aiming for.

Another argument that some might tell is that as you go on through life, you already had
a lot of experience and hardships, so they can tell that surviving only means that we just get used
to how hard life is. Sure, one can say that having a lot of experience is enough already to conclude
this stand, but for my fifth point, NO ONE CAN TELL THAT THEY ARE JUST USED TO A HARD
LIFE because there are different kinds of problems and hardness that we encounter as we are
growing up. Perhaps, let us say that when you are merely 3 years old, you consider secretly taking
a snack is a big problem already. When you are a pre-school child, you may consider that
distinguishing which is the right side and left side is already a hard thing for you. You become an
elementary student, now you consider a lot of terminologies and basic math as your hardship.
You are now in high school, then the essay is your problem. Being a senior, then you face basic
calculus as a problem. You become a college student, then it is the thesis for you. Now let us say
that you are a fully grown adult and you encounter a financial crisis, will you say that you can
surpass this because you are used to the hardships of distinguishing left and right, of creating an
essay, and solving calculus? Well, for me, my answer is no. When you are solving a life problem,
or when you achieved something, it is because you become better and your life gets better. How?
Then let us move to my sixth and last point, LIFE BECOMES BETTER BECAUSE YOU GROW
AND YOU BECOME BETTER AS PERSON from all the hardships and failures that you
surpassed, and of course, as we mature, we also improve our personality, skills, and strengths
that also helps us to do better in life.

And before I end this passage, I would like to present the last argument that someone
would tell, I have encountered this as I am asking a friend for an idea, and this is the question she
asked me, "How about those people who gave up or took their own life, can you still stay
that life gets better?". This question somehow made me think, those people who gave up on
life, or who took their own life is a warrior for me, but somehow, it is a sad situation for almost
everyone, we respect how they feel and why they decided to do that, but my answer here is also
a question, "What if for that person, "PEACE" became their meaning of a "BETTER LIFE"?”,
but still, we can never tell.

In all, the end of all of these is that a BETTER LIFE IS WITHIN YOU, as you become
better, your life also gets better at the same time. So this now answers why did Sartre told that
"YOU are---YOUR LIFE and nothing else". We all have a different definition for the betterment
of life, it is not fixed, it is not general to everyone, in short, there is nothing set specific to define if
your life gets better. One may see that a better life is only a happy life that is favorable for one's
self, but always remember that A BETTER LIFE CONSISTS OF EVERYTHING POSSIBLE AND
NOT JUST CONSTANT FAVOR AND HAPPINESS. You are here because you have a purpose,
and one of that is to live a better and a good life.

Lastly, this is my pure stand and opinion and I have no intentions to argue with the other
stand, and as a person, I also respect and consider other people's arguments and beliefs.