UNIT 1: WHAT IS ETHICS?

ACTIVITY 1: REFLECTION PAPER

There are countless of ethical issues all over the world and our country has many of them.
In present times, we are seeing new cases of ethical issues, for there are conflict between
people’s ethical values. Ethical values can change from one generation to another, and today we
can observe clearly the differences between one person’s ethical values to another one especially
for those who grew up in different era. Another factor that can affect ones ethical value is their
culture and religion. Our culture and most of our citizens being religious affects how one should
behave in the society, in other words, culture and religion are the things that greatly influences
what is right and wrong in our country. But in my generation, things have change as we are now
influenced by western culture. The norms in our society has change as we try to open our minds
to new things. While browsing through the internet, I have encountered several news and stories
about elderlies being abandoned by their children with no one to take care of them, and it feel
pity for them but at the same time I cannot judge their children without knowing their side of the
story. These kinds of news and stories makes me wonder if it is the children’s responsibility to
take care of their parents once they got old.
In the Philippines, one of our Filipino cultural values is the “utang na loob” or “a debt of
one’s inner self”. It is defined as a sense of obligation to return a favor owed to someone. Our
parents took care of us even before we were born until we became independent individuals, and
so it is obvious for us give back to our parents for what they have done to us, that is what many
of us think. But not for me, I strongly do not believe that we are obliged to take care of our
parents once they get old, and here are my reasons. First, we owe nothing to our parents. We live
in a society which tells us that we owe everything to our parents, and that is wrong, in fact it is
the other way around, our parents owe us everything. And what I mean by everything are the
food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shelter, and the love we need. In the first place it was the
couple who decided to have a baby so it is their responsibility to raise one.
I am not against to those who choose to take care of their old parents, my point is the way
that the society approaches the issue wrong. Taking care of our elderlies should be done out of
someone’s own will, not because you are obliged to do it. It should depend to ones thinking
whether he or she wants to take care of their parents not because the society tells them to do so.
From my point of view, it is clear that taking care of our old parents is a form of showing
gratitude and love to them, not because I feel like it is my obligation. But there is an exemption
to those who take care of their parents because they can no longer take care of themselves, this
type of situation is the only time that I consider taking care of our parents should be a
responsibility.
 My take on this issue may seem to be odd or disturbing for some, but I will not be
ashamed for the things I stand for and what I think is right. Taking care of our parents once they
are old should be because the children wanted to do so, not because they needed to do so. I
strongly believe on the saying that goes “just because something looks ugly does not mean it is
morally wrong”.