What I Really Learned

What did I really learned? There were many things that you presented to me that could have been retained and some did. But to be all honest, some just passed right on through. Here are some highlights of what I retained: Subsidiary, the “OPTION” method, the ten building blocks of Catholic Faith, and the Just War Theory.

Subsidiary is the notion of “brotherhood.” Brotherhood is sticking together, doing what is best for your fellow man. Saying that we are all brothers is very big because this means that we should help them out in whatever way we can. Sometimes it might not be convenient for someone to help them out, but because we have this bond of brotherhood, we should help them out. Now I’m not saying that if you have somewhere to be that is extremely important than you should not help them, but it does not mean that you might be able to spear a couple minutes or do something quickly to help them out. This is not always possible because I know I’ve done this, where I see someone in need and I just keep on walking, trying to forget what I just saw. This happens with all of us, whether it is a homeless beggar on the street, or even a fellow classmate who just dropped all of his books on the floor because a senior ran into him. We should help them out in some way, if it’s giving the beggar a coupon or even a few dollars, or helping the kid pick up his books so he can get to class on time. I know that this is a very hard thing to do because I can point out numerous times where I’ve kept on going and did not even think twice about helping the person. But because of this idea of “brotherhood” and “togetherness” we need to look out for those who we care about, and for those who we do not know, but might be in need of some assistance.

The second main focus that really stuck with me was the “OPTION” method. The OPTION method is a very useful method to decide on making good moral decisions. There are six steps to this method, each starting with the letter of the word. The first one is Options. This is where you are supposed to list all of your options. The key to this part is being honest with yourself. The second is Prayer. When you pray you want to pray for guidance and courage, not picking the easiest one, but the best one. The third step is Testing. You do not physically test the listed options, but decide if they stand up to your moral codes, personal and religion. Fourth is Information. You want to consult with those who would have more knowledge than you on the subject, those who are more mature and trusting. The second to last thing is Obligations. Ask yourself if any of the choices interfere with what you have already committed too, this also includes your commitments to God. The final step is listing new options that may have occurred over this time of discernment. If there have been any new options that have arisen and then test them from the beginning. The main thing is not to simply follow the steps, but to think hard and concentrate on them, putting your full intentions into your decision, not simply going through the motions of this process, but actually caring and really using your time with this process wisely and not simply wasting it.

The next thing that really stuck with me was the ten building blocks of Catholic Faith. When I first started to read these, I was thinking that there was no way that I’m going to remember these, so I took it half-heartedly. But after looking over the ten blocks, reviewing for the test over them, I got to reading them more and it just hit me. I do not know what it was, but something hit me that told me to remember these things because they will come up later in life. Right now, I have no clue how they will affect me, if they will affect me at all, but something told me to remember them. As of right now, they are in my brain, but how long they will stay there, only the good Lord knows.

The final thing is the Just War theory. This probably got me thinking the most, mainly because I was never taught about the actual theory. I was just told that there was something out there that designated whether we could go to war or not, that was pretty much all I understood of it. After reading some of the packet that you gave us, it got me thinking and prompted me to research more on it. I found it very interesting because I learned a good deal about it, about its qualifications, when it has been used, and when it has not been used. The one thing that really did not affect me was all of the class time we spent just talking about the articles. I did not really find that information extremely important (mainly because it was you and John Sinclair having your debates on different topics). The one thing that really did affect me is the movie “Remember My Lai.” This movie is very good and does describe the different views people took on what they did. The way Simpson took his view was very interesting compared to the way Calley took his stance. The diversity of the two really shows why the theory is so disputed on. There are many interpretations on the way you can explain Just War Theory and how it affects people and their actions. There are so many ways people take it so it is a highly debated topic that is good to know some information about.

So right here is supposed to be my final and personal response. Well alright then. My personal response to the class was overall decent. The workload was not bad at all. The class time, at least for our class (300-8) could have been spent a lot better, but because of John Sinclair and you debating all the time, we got off topic a lot, and do not get me wrong, there was some good discussions, but I think we could have spent our time better. One other suggestion is that you should make us read articles and then we can discuss them the next day. You kept telling us that we did not always know our facts. This is partially because we did not know what we were going to be talking about until the day actually came, so we had little to no time to attempt at looking at the topic before class. If you make homework of reading articles, then you can have those fruitful discussions that you always want in class. The class was good, it was fun at some points and aggravating at others, but it was good and the only things to change are making class discussions better by making us research the topic before we come to class.