18. What can we do to stop people harming others?

Rules and laws are made to help protect the people. It is good that in our own country, many laws are being passed more, especially for the women. Without these rules and laws, there would be chaos all around. But not all of the laws created are made to protect the people.

We can start to stop people from harming others by starting with teaching good values and morals to children. This helps because it gives a definition of goodness at a young age. And when a child is nurtured and taught well, he or she may keep those in mind as they grow up. Also, we must not forget that all men are innately good and everyone has the ability to feel wanted, loved and cared for.

Solutions to a problem may vary case to case. What works for one nation to counteract a problem may not work in the Philippine setting. Even given rules and laws, we Filipinos are still lenient in following them. A very good example would have to be traffic rules and driving etiquette. Cars don't follow a single lane and can swerve like a bumble bee and when they get caught by the police, those that have the charm can get away without a ticket or through bribe. Simple rules like these we can't even follow. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Thinking about it, we are also harming ourselves in the process.

17. What Makes the World Dangerous?

“We make the world dangerous.” – Michael Dillon

Michael Dillon, a political theorist, has established that man is the primary source of making the world a dangerous place to live in. I personally believe that it may have been caused by various factors, such as the decisions that we make (right or wrong), the laws that we ourselves created and enforced, the technology that we have invented, and so on.

Taking corruption as an example, no one else is to blame but the faulty decisions politicians make. It is their personal choice to horde much of the government’s money instead of properly allocating it to help the poor or reconstruct public utilities. Because they have the power and influence to do so, they find loopholes in the flawed system, which man has once again constructed, in order to go about their corrupted plans.

Who else is suffering by all the peril in the world? In the end, it may be concluded that we cannot point fingers to anyone else but ourselves for generating such a hazardous environment, which, ironically, is the place that we live in.

16. Why does politics turn into violence?

This is war. As I have mentioned before, war is upon us even today and we are fighting against terrorism for instance. Politics too is concerned here and create the most scandalous issues and fights to ever break the news headlines. Why doesn't politics ever have a safe zone or quite time? It is because of the fact that politics concerns position which equals also to power. And power is a very desirable concept.

Politics turns into violence when there is too much greed and hunger for power. We create the definition of dirty politics, but politics as a concept is not at all dirty but it is the people who make it dirty. People have the natural inclination to fall for power because it can be such a temptation. Even good people who enter to work for the government become victims of corruption and manipulation, which they may have advocated against. In concerning the people, the people are the ones that are corrupt. Of course when bad officials of a government are stripped to reveal their true agendas, the people react negatively, most of the time violently. We are in a people power revolution generation where we took to the streets to protest for our rights. Some got wounded and others harmed in the process. But what is positive about it is that violence is kept to the minimum, as it should always be.

Lesson learned is that we should not be victims of the negative side of politics. It is our right to demand good service from our leaders and they are expected to perform. We accept the fact that we all make mistakes but not become complacent and oblivious to the wrong doings of others.

15. Why Do Some People Think They Know What is Good for Others?

Parents have the natural role of knowing what is best for their children mainly because they know their children best. But how about the other people, who think they know better than others? Some people think that they know what is good for others because of the fact that they may have been good observers or are merely just power tripping. They would think that they know what others want or need because they may believe that they have power and position to say so.

These people gain more for themselves by pushing others or making them believe what to think and what to want. In a way, they are capable of manipulating others. It is also a marketing strategy, to appeal to others by telling them what they need and that they can attain it if they follow. These people may only have their personal interests at heart when they claim to know what is good for others. Many people unconsciously fall into their traps and become entangled in a web that can be full of lies.

We have to be our own individuals and not let others dictate to us what is good for us. We ourselves should know what is good for us and because it is ultimately our own choice, we have the power to accept or decline what is proposed to us. It is better to critique others and observe them before really examining ourselves.

14. How can we end poverty?

It does not take a genius to grasp the thought that the Philippines is, indeed, a poverty-stricken country. The evidence lies on the significant number of children who are not functionally literate, teachers who have no choice but to accept the truth behind being underpaid and overworked and parents who use their children as “props” to get more money as they beg in our polluted streets. These are just some tragic realities faced by the country. As a mere spectator of such, I can not help but wonder if things would actually change. Is the government to blame for the fate of such stakeholders? Does the stagnant economy have a lot to do with the situation we are in? Must there be an alliance and sense of positive interdependence with other international institutions or just remain as a nation considered as forever accepting donations? These questions are still left unanswered by the elders we refer to as politicians. What has been established on this line of thought is that, through the years, we have only proven that we deserve to be categorized as a third world country. All I can say is, to a certain extent, this has worked well for us. Truth is poverty has been synonymous to Philippines.

Do not get me wrong. I am proud of my roots as a Filipina because of the values that the culture upholds. However, I have seen in a practical sense that we do have to acknowledge certain truths as to the real situation we are in. Sugarcoating is not necessary. It is as simple as we are poor due to lack of development amongst the people from different sectors, wherein this problem is brought about by fellow Filipinos. We see this in the idea that “the rich become richer and the poor become poorer”. The obvious demarcation of the two contrasting sides has a lot to do with the notion that, “despite attempts to end poverty, the poor refuse to disappear from the global scene”. The great truth is revealed in the fact that the poor may actually be keeping us alive. I believe this is so because had we not been suffering financially, no other country would care to reach out to us and lend billions of dollars for our advantage. It is quite logical. It must have been brought up that there will always be people challenged financially, regardless of the status of the country in general. They select the Philippines because they can get something from us as well. You see, it can come as a business strategy. We have the manpower. They have the money. Let us face it. Genuine concern for others is taboo in today’s vocabulary just as the actualization of equality for all is. On a lighter note, we need not blame who sets the boundaries of power and wealth, which is usually done such as attributing it to capitalists. I am not political expert. All I know is that, if there is a factor that contributes to the problem, then the solution can be searched for and most likely attainable. We often speak of corruption as an ultimate cause of poverty. But I do not believe that it is just that alone. We each take part on this failure to rise above this phase. In one way or another, we each have not fulfilled the duties we have to the country. So, how can we end poverty? I can only take this on a personal note to be more specific. I am an education major and I believe the solution to poverty is education. An educated nation signifies responsible citizens, with those who actually participate in development of the country.

By aspiring for the success universal projects including Education For All (EFA) and supporting the implementation of the Dakar Framework, maybe (just maybe) we can start to make things happen for us. Some may say the EFA does not fit the needs of the country and would just be an avenue for globalization. This means more advantage to the developed countries. However, I think that we to keep up with others in terms of being knowledgeable of the world beyond ours. Taking such knowledge and using it to our advantage.

13. Why are some people better off than others?

It's chance and choice. People are born into their lives through chance and by this I mean that they are born into the world in a specific condition. A baby can be born into a poor, average or well off family and it is not the decision of the baby to choose. But we have the other option, choice, to change our fate. Acting on how we can change ourselves to have a better life is possible and attainable. There are many stories to hear about riches to rags and how with hard earned money can go a long way into a brighter future for people. Those that are already born into a blessed lifestyle, have the upper hand, and can easily be better off than others because they do not have to work to hard to get what they want, granted that they already have the resources to get them.

With this, we can see that there is inequality. But since there is little we can do about it, we must be able to act on ourselves and decide what type of life we want to live. There people say that they are destined for something, or are cursed in the status of living they are in. But I don't believe that this is totally true, because a person can twist his or her own fate. We should not be hindered by what class we are because they can stop us from reaching our true potential.

We were shown pictures of different countries stricken by poverty and we can see that poverty is a universal issue. There exists poverty in all parts of the world, it may vary on the degrees on country may have but what really matters and sets a country is how the react and deal with poverty. In our country, we are always having efforts to help the poor communities. To see the inequality in poverty has given us as an example. on how the world is today.

12. How is the world organized economically?

The world is in constant motion, it's simply economics. Economics is the study of the production and distribution of goods, services and wealth. It also concerns the allocation of scarce resources. In class, we gave 50 % to the economic aspect we attribute in our whole lives. And we rely on our resources, our own and of others to sustain ourselves. Since not a single country can possess all the resources it needs, it banks on the imports and also exports to provide for other countries as well.

Technology has rapidly changed the way we manufacture and exchange our resources. Over the years, it has made it easier and faster to not only communicate but transport the resources from other ends of the world. It has also helped create a more efficient system of monitoring transactions of businesses. But as we can clearly see not all countries have the needed technology in order to participate globally. There is a huge gap to which developing countries are falling behind.

We can see that as a developing country as well, the Philippines is creating such an effort to put more technology into use. Although it really is unfair that we usually export our raw materials which should be ours to manufacture into goods, we don't have the needed equipment to make them. That is why there needs to be an equilibrium, we should always be a more industrial centered country, where we can manufacture our own goods. This will enable us to progress in full bloom.