"What Makes Humans Tick"

Friday, October 8, 2010

Excellent Work by: Marco Ray C. Leo Sr.-F

The pursuit of understanding oneself has always been one of the many goals people try to achieve. From trying to understand oneself, to trying to understand others, people have always been pondering on the fundamental question: “Who am I?” As with most people, I too have also asked this of myself. This is why Anthropology interests me. Anthropology is the study of humanity. This encompasses the humanities, social sciences and etc. 

My interest in Social Studies started in Grade School when I got a high score in a Social Studies test. At first I thought it was hard, mainly because I tried to memorize it, but not understand it. When I tried to understand it, it became easier for me and I started to like the subject. Back then, it was still called “Araling Panlipunan” and was taught in Filipino. I also had a hard time in that subject, but I was good in English. Over time, however, I became better in Filipino. Eventually, I was able to keep consistently high grades in the three subjects and came to like them. As language is an important facet in understanding people, it is inextricably linked to the Social Sciences. Thus, my interest in these subjects grew. 

Nowadays, people are so caught up with advancements in science and technology that they forget traditions and values of the past. They forget the beauty of bygone eras that shaped their society to what it is today. For me, I value these things because I believe that the past shapes the future; thus the past needs to be preserved. I have learned that history repeats itself so we must study it to prevent any coming disasters and use the knowledge of the past to shape the future. 

Humanity has always been struggling to find whatever satisfies them. Whether it is something spiritual or mundane, people will actively try to seek it. And it is this drive which brings out the turning points of history. By coming to learn how humanity has progressed (or regressed), people can find out the trends which shape the future and how it changes it.