Activity 2.

2
Respect for human life, and truth-telling

What does respect for human life mean to you? For me, it is about how people
deal with each other without giving trouble and always understanding one’s life
decisions, actions, and status in life. People know how to respect human life but most of
the time they don’t do it. Some people get mad whenever they become the topic of other
people’s conversation but when they are doing it to others they think that something isn’t
wrong and they don’t do anything wrong.

Here in the Philippines, the word “tsismis” is very popular and everyone here
knows that it is the bad attitude or manner of all Filipinos. Tsismis in English is gossip
which is about the conversion of two or more people saying different rumors about other
people even though it is not confirmed. Sometimes their stories are incomplete or they
added something that isn’t real or not confirmed. Doing that, for me, is a lack of respect
for human life, they spread false things about someone that will lead into trouble.
Tsismis is one of the examples of lack of respect in human life here in the Philippines but
that doesn’t mean Filipinos lack respect. I remember the day when my mom and dad
were having a hard time dealing their business oil to a company. My dad is a Grab driver
in Manila and decided to go back home to help my mom. He borrowed his company’s
car that surprised our neighbors and asked others what kind of work my mom and dad
were doing. We had nothing at that time and when that company accepted my parent’s
offer she immediately searched for some boy that would help her to take care of the
item. One day, she heard that there is a rumor saying that my parents are using that boy
to deliver illegal drugs to their customers. My mom gets angry, she asks where that
rumor started and when she finds out who made that rumor she fights with her. The
worst thing here is that person is my younger sister’s godmother. If she just asked my
mom and dad where they got our car and why they got that boy working with them there
is no fight that would occur. Spreading fake information about others for me is not giving
them respect in one’s life. We, all people always have a side wherein sometimes we
have a lot, otherwise lack respect for human life which differentiate us as an individual. If
there is a lot of tsismosa and tsismoso there will be people that are open and
understanding to others which we can say have a lot of respect for others. Examples of
that are those people that support others’ decisions, will
help others when they stumble and will cheer others when they succeed. That’s how I
differentiate if a person has or hasn’t respect for human life. Making and spreading lies
is very out of respect in human lives and we shouldn’t do things like this.

When it comes to truth-telling lies are considerably dependent on the situation. In

a film entitled “The Farewell” people can see how truth-telling exists. It is a story of a
family who hides about their Nai Nai’s condition. The doctor said that she has cancer
and we knew that there is a low probability to survive cancer. According to the National
Cancer Institute, cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2018, 18.1
million new cases of all kinds of cancer have been confirmed and 9.5 million out of 18.1
million cases are cancer-related deaths worldwide. When Nai Na’s family knows about
her condition they choose not to tell her and they do everything just to complete the
whole family and people that they think are Nai Nai’s part of life. They spend their whole
time with her but deep inside they want to cry every time they act happy. People may
think that it is unfair for Nai Nai because they didn't give a chance to her to say goodbye
to all her loved ones but it is the family’s decision, they have a reason and there is
always a reason in everything.

For me, people’s actions are always dependent on the situation, what they feel,
and what they think. No matter what their decision and actions are, as long as they don’t
do anything wrong and have valid reasons, we should respect them and what they
make. Always remember even if there are wrong decisions and actions we shouldn’t be
tired of supporting. We will know if a decision or action is wrong if there is a result and
when it’s made as wrong decisions we shouldn’t be tired to lend our help to make the
wrong one a right one.