MAN as a RESPONSIBLE BEING

“…I am therefore responsible not only for my own individuality but I am responsible for all people.” - Jean- Paul Sartre

The tranquility I cradled in my head suddenly cleared as I speak of the word “responsibility”. According to the dictionary, the word “responsibility” is a state, fact or position of being accountable to somebody or something. Such a simple definition but has a broad and deep meaning. But I speak of the word as if it was a burden and commitment until I read the article, the concept of being responsible to the other selves somehow deepened and stroked me, being a human.

I relate myself to the author, Mr. Randy David. At first, he didn’t believe in charity. I agree with him. My notion of being charitable was not about lending peso coins to the street beggars or giving them food. Helping people means teaching them what to do or how to survive in the middle of crisis and hunger. Like in the saying, “don’t give them fish, teach them how to fish”. I could consider myself as a cruel person. If I see beggars in the street, I don’t mind them. I treat them like they have an incurable disease. I usually blame them. They brought this into themselves. If only they could be industrious, hardworking and patient, maybe they might have something for themselves.

I also blame the government for the sufferings and poverty our country face. Corrupt officials and politicians crawl their arms to the money of the people and satisfy themselves with such great wealth. By these incidents, the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer. The budget that was supposed to be for the poor was corrupted by the officials. The article was right, we don’t have a just commonwealth. So, I know now that poor people are not entirely responsible for their deprived situation. The sweat for the works our parents and fellow Filipinos vanish and were hidden in the pocket of those dirty people in the government. We blame them, I blame them, but throughout those blames I made, nothing happened. Throughout those shouts and screams of fellow activist in rallies, nothing had happened. The government is deaf.

Poor people in the Philippines multiple like bacteria. You can see them everywhere, on streets, on sidewalks, under bridges, in Tondo, along railroads and other visible places you can imagine. And it hit me. They are multiplying as if they were saying something as you look into their eyes, and by reading this article, the invisibility of the message inside their eyes was released, was known and it’s reaching out to me and to our fellow citizens.

HELP!

Their eyes speak of it. And as Jean Paul Sartre said “…I am therefore responsible not only for my own individuality but I am responsible for all people.” We are not only responsible for our selves, but also for those people around us.

According to Robert O. Johann in his article “The Task of Man”, he quote that “The task of man is thus man himself. It is unfinished business for which God has provided, as it were, only the raw materials. Mankind is thus a reality summoned to share in its own making. Since the goal of this making is a genuine community to which each member freely gives himself and, in the very giving, finds himself, responsibility for its coming to being rests with everyone of us. Each person has the vocation to be for every other the vehicle of a truly creative love- indeed, of the Creator’s love, in and by which alone we all live and move and are”. . As a human being, we were created to share what we have or give whatever we can offer. For according to the quote, helping people also means finding yourself in the process. It is the task of man to be responsible for every other selves. Although it is not in the law that we should help people, but as a being and a creation of God with a humble and reaching heart, it is in our nature to help people and be responsible for the needy and deprived.

The People are the cause of the slow progress of our country. People tend to think only for themselves. They focus on their own future not for the betterment of the others. We must learn to sympathize or rather empathize to the others’ situation for us to be able to feel what they feel as a person. We must bear at our hearts the word “pakikipagkapwa-tao”. We must not choose whom to help, for according to the article “every poor man who comes to us begging for help has a short story to tell. We never know how much truth there is in these tales. But does it really matter?” Who would help them if not us?