Reflective Journal
Journal 1: In your view, what consist free choice? Cite examples in current situation.
In my perspective, free choice is a decision that should totally be in my power. In every angle
that you would look at it, it should stand out as ‘my’ own will. For me, free choice is comprised with
the fact that it happened due to natural causality, and should never be blamed with destiny or even
divine will.
Basing on the meaning of free choice, the time I chose an option in any given situation; it is a
free choice. When I decided to sleep late at night, it was free choice. Whenever I decide what food
should I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner is a free choice that I make. Each time our neighbor
decides to disturb the whole community with their loud music, early in the morning, is their free
choice. That time when one of our LGU decided to corrupt our barangay council’s fund, ending up
with him being arrested, is his free choice, and that time our neighbor stubbornly left her gas stove
on, causing our whole subdivision to burn down to ashes. It is clearly stated that every decision we
do is our free choice entrusted with our free will, and is always fastened with consequences.
Journal 2: are you a slave to do something? Why or not.
Am I a slave to do something? Asking such question to myself will be a tough nut to crack. Not
because I do not know the answer to it, but because I am torn for what is the right answer. The answer
that comes up to my mind is yes and no.
No, half of what I firmly believe is that my decision is not in thrall of me. We all have free will,
don’t we? That explains it all, I am a free person, in this free country. I have my free will, and deserve my
freedom of choice. So why would I think that I am under of something I do. If there is school task given
to me, then I could do it whenever I want, or I could just ignore it. Though, not making a task given to
me will lead me to consequences. And that example is connected with my next answer, yes. It is very
clear that I should not argue anymore because the answer would be ‘no’, as the basis is free choice. But,
in the situation that a school task is given to me, I am only burdened with 2 choices (which could just
mean that I’m stuck with those choices, and I have no other way to run). Those 2 choices would be to do
it or not. In a given situation that I badly need to pass, then I would do that task, and I would do the task
vigorously not because I want to do so but because the situation requires to. But what if the situation
would be (for example); I am a working student, and I am the eldest, then due to bad luck our parents
abandoned us. I am now stuck within this situation that I need to be more hardworking, and I need to
take care of my siblings, there will be a hundred percent chance that I wouldn’t do the task. I’ll be
needing to get up early to the chores for my siblings, and I’ll be needing to go to work to provide for
them. I don’t just think that I won’t be able to pass that task, I would probably be needing to stop going
to school, not that I want to but because the situation requires to. Though it is arguable that I could still
go to school and pass that task, but then my younger siblings will be left behind, and would probably
starve if I won’t take care of them. My point is, consequences is our basis of our choice; it could just
mean that I was able to demonstrate prudence, which could nullify my whole ‘yes’ argument. But, there
will always be an option{a} on which we will be pushed to do it, even though we could just chose
another one{b} other than that, but if we will be reconsidering every consequences we would just go
back to that one option{a} that we tried to avoid, because that option is the only choice that can be
considered to be good enough to call your action moral or it will be the only thing you could do to put
eighty percent of your conscience at peace.
