#socsc

My journey with Social Sciences 11 has come to an end...

or has it really?

No. It does not end. It goes on throughout my entire life, in every blink, in every step, in every thought, in every word and in every action.

Because of this, I would like to say,

Thank you, Bronfenbrenner, for making me realize the complexity of each person’s life and how I must understand people deeply and fully to know who they are.

Thank you, Hermans, for teaching me about influences that exist in this world as well as various identities and how each person interacts and learns differently in this diverse world with diverse people.

Thank you, Alejo, for talking about the beauty of the core of a person, especially of the “loob” of a Filipino, and how people become strengthened and motivated to live. How beautiful it is that people have the freedom to make choices influenced by their thoughts, feelings, experiences and the world around them. 

Thank you, Kahneman, for teaching me how thoughts are processed and turned into action as well as how to control cognitive biases which can help me be more mindful and careful. 

Thank you, Ekman, Williams and more, for teaching me about the complexity of emotions, how I feel them, how others feel them, and that maybe we are not so alone at all when we feel certain emotions.

Thank you, Gross, for showing me how people regulate their emotions, and this in turn, helps me in regulating my own and understanding how others do so as well.

Thank you, Fredrickson, for teaching me how I can simply be positive in my own life and how I can help spread this to others to make this world a bit more happier and lighter.

Thank you, Freud, for opening up a new perspective on how I can understand the development of a person, how each and every action will most likely work in each stage of development, and why this may lead people to do such actions. I was also able to understand the way people make decisions and how morals and criteria develop in a person’s mind.

Thank you, Fraiberg, Adelson, and Shapiro, for showing a side of the relationship of a mother to her infant, how the dynamics throughout the growth of an infant affects the growth into stages of development. I use the learnings from her for understanding my own situation as well as others.

Thank you, Erikson, for teaching me how people face and deal with challenges as well as how learnings come about throughout the various stages of development of a person. This helps me understand my own growth and the way others have developed throughout their lives as well.

Thank you, Gecas and Schwalbe, for teaching me about perceptions of the self and perceptions of others towards the self. I have learned to further practice my agency in order to higher my self-esteem and how I can also be a good friend to others and boost themselves as well.

Thank you, Goffman, for making me understand the complexity of the world that is a stage, especially with the characters or the people that perform in it. I see how people perform in various contexts and why they choose to do so. I, myself, can also see how I choose what “fronts” I put up on different occasions.

Thank you, Smollar and Younis, for opening my eyes to how the dynamics of a parent-child relationship work and how our perceptions of each other change as we grow. I am now more aware of my own relationships and perceptions of my parents and how I can treat them better but also know where I stand as an individual.

Thank you, Grotevant and Cooper, for widening my perspective with the interactions of adolescents and parents. I see how I am now shaped by my parents and also by my own self as I grow in this moving and changing world. I now understand myself and my parents a bit better.

Thank you, Brown, for making me understand where I am amongst my peers but also how adolescent crowds work and came to be. I see now how I can better my relationships with others and not be bounded by stereotypes.

Thank you, Manago, Guan, and Greenfield, for showing the influence of media in our lives and how it has affected cultures, communication, relationships and the identities of people. I now am aware of how I can roam around this digital age and remember to also have real-life contact with the people around me.

Thank you, Moore, Rosenthal, Killerman, and Tan, for helping me understand my relationships further, my own gender and sexual identity, and how I can understand others with respect. I am also now aware of Filipino perceptions on love, gender, sex, and relationships so as to understand my own beliefs, my family’s beliefs, and the beliefs of other Filipinos.

Thank you, Swartz, for helping me understand why I do the things I do and why people do the things they do. We all come from different backgrounds, have different resources, and different personalities which creates billions of amazing, unique, and complex stories.

Thank you, Dorling, for opening my eyes to a perspective of inequality and injustice. I am motivated to further help make equality happen and justice served. 

Finally, thank you Ma’am Alyda Keh, for helping me and the class learn more about ourselves, the society that surrounds us, and the various perspectives and dynamics that are within our world. I can further understand myself and others and live my life to the fullest. I may act as a bridge for others to understand themselves as well. Now, I can move onto the next chapter of my life with high hopes that I can grow in the best way possible and affect good change for others.

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          A world can be composed of many unique stories. Just how every star in the sky has a story, so does every community and every person existing inside a community on Earth has. The small things, the growth, the dynamics, the ups, and the downs — all of these are just a part of the beauty of it. Having the opportunity to delve into another world, and take a peak at the unique stories imbedded within it is what the Binhi experience has given to me. In this opportunity, I was given various options to choose from and I chose to take a step inside of the world of the Philippine Children’s Medical Centre or PCMC.

          After being oriented about the place, the people we may interact with, what situations we may face and how to deal with them, a few thoughts popped up in my mind. Firstly, how will I have a meaningful interaction with these children who were sick and secondly, what may I find out about this part of the Filipino community? During our entire interaction, me and other people who signed up for PCMC were split into groups and each of the groups interacted with a room of children and their older family members (mostly parents). At first, it was really hard to figure out what to do as the children were of different ages and they were either sleeping or shy to interact. As time went by, my group and I figured that we try to interact with the children through colouring or playing cards and interacting with their elders.

          At one point of the interaction, I had experienced a child being brought to the ICU. It was terrible because he was having a hard time sleeping because of the pain and he didn’t want to deal with any check-ups anymore. It really broke my heart seeing that and that me and my group weren’t able to interact with him at all. As the interaction continued on, I learned about different stories of the people through having a “kuwento” (story) session with the elders of the children. I learned about where they came from, a bit of their life stories, what happened to their children, and how they were. Most of them were from the poor communities in the country and they traveled all the way to Quezon City to find a treatment for their children. Most of the children I interacted with had dengue and a few had rare diseases. All I felt from this entire experience was sadness but I also strived with hope to make their stay at the hospital much better and give them a glimmer of hope as well.

          Within the Filipino community, there are various worlds that exist within them. My world just so happens to be almost completely different from the worlds I learned more about through the children and their elders that I have interacted with. My lifestyle has been influenced by having an abundance of many things while the lifestyle of my ka-Binhi (the children and their families I interacted with) are completely different. We are all Filipinos with only our resources and cultures (depending on which part of the Philippines they came from) separating us into different worlds. I have only learned so little from this interaction that could’ve been longer and yet I know how different their habitus is from my own. These children are a part of families who may not afford many things of high quality and may not enjoy the luxuries people with more money in their pockets have.

understanding people and perspectives on justice

I believe that I am one who stands for understanding others, seeking the good in people, and standing up for justice based on my morals. As a normal college student with a good educational background, it is up to me to put what I have experienced and learned about justice and injustices to good use. I believe that I have been taught well by my parents and my teachers, and that I have been exposed well enough to the situation of injustice in my country and in the world. 

These are the steps I take to come up with what is just and unjust in my mind:

1. Fully understanding the situation, with the proper and unbiased proof, and the perspectives of every person involved (understanding objectively).

2. Consider what the law has to say, and if the law is fair and needs no revision.

3. Proper action will be taken always in order to be fair for all, but if there is injustice that seriously goes out of hand (for example a victim who was seriously tortured and used a weapon to save herself/himself), that person should not be held in prison for such. I also consider all sides and not be biased to one side because pleasing both parties as much as possible (but it is logical that we cannot please everyone) can most likely disrupt wars.

I fight for injustice through proper objective education, taking any opportunity I have to speak for human rights and to join in groups of people that would speak up for the same. It is also important to consider not being too nice as well as too unforgiving for an unjust situation.

ALTHOUGH THIS IS WHAT I STAND FOR, THESE ARE NOT EVERYONE’S BELIEFS. I MAY ALSO CHANGE MY PERSPECTIVE AS I GROW.

Social structures can make you or break you.

What makes me are my God (religion), my family, and my education which I learn about myself and my world.

In between that is what may make but shake me. These are the government and the economy. 

What breaks me could also make me as I have mentioned before.

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Resources aid in my agency. I have some but I lack some too.

What I have: moral support from family and friends, knowledge from education

What I lack: self-confidence, self-management

- me + the looking glass self - 

Between my perception and my friend’s perception of who I am, I would say that ours is quite similar except that what she said was really more touching and beautiful (Awww). We both mentioned that I was caring and smart/intelligent. When she said that there was no need to talk to me often to know that I cared is also similar to what I said about being a shoulder to lean on. The description of me as a ray of sunshine may also relate with what I wrote of me being a buddy to have a fun time with. 

There were also differences and things that surprised me as well. Firstly, she did not mention me as the baby of the group which is totally fine because it makes me feel more of an independent person (Hahaha). She said that I was a walking calculator which actually surprised me! What was most surprising to me is when she said I had a heart of gold and that even if I have my bad days, I still try my best to hide what I feel and be brave. These are things that totally warmed my heart.

Since I had to think about what my friend would think about me, it made me realize that I too may think of myself as these things. My self-esteem is quite low and I usually degrade myself a lot, but when I put into thought the good things that are within in me, it makes me feel not so bad about myself. It makes me want to continue living the best life I can live and grow. My self-conception has altered a bit because of this, and in a very good way. As I go beyond the looking glass self, I know that my environment and the people around change as I change, and through this, I can make the most out of it. Being mindful, being aware of myself and others, and getting deeper with my knowledge on socialization may produce positive growth within me and affect those who surround me. I realize that I can go further, practice agency, and seek learnings from others as I go about my journey in bettering my self-esteem. 

my hybrid identities (Filipino + ______)

influenced by: family traditions, personal interests, and education

1. Celebrating Chinese events - I usually celebrate these traditions because of my families (nuclear family, mom’s side, and dad’s side). We wear red occasionally and eat the appropriate Chinese foods of these events. I will probably carry this out with me in my future family because of my own family traditions. Nothing totally clashes but I just turn these normal days on a Filipino calendar to special events.

2. Learned how to dance ballet - I incorporated this dance originated from Europe into a part of my talents. It has also been incorporated in the Philippines as there are several ballet dance schools and classes as well as famous Filipino ballet dancers. 

3. I was part of a hip-hop dance troupe in high school - My knowledge and skills I learned from ballet also helped me learn how to adapt hip-hop in my skill set. Even if I knew these dance styles, I was taught in my Physical Education classes about Philippine dance and being knowledgable in these various dance styles actually do not clash but help in performing well in each.

4. Fluent in English, Tagalog, and Spanish - Knowing these languages help me communicate with more people and understand more things. Some words in a few languages may actually be similar in spelling and definition. What is difficult is that I can find it hard to full grasp all of these languages which makes it hard sometimes to understand and communicate.

Thank You for, 

waking me up today for another chance to love,

my friends that I got to spend the day with,

my family who I got to have dinner with.

You have shown me so much love today, the past few days, and You are continuing to do so.