Thoughts on Divorce

I chose the issue of divorce. I consider this action be wrong under most circumstances especially since this issue is slightly close to me as people I know are separated, not divorced legally since divorce is illegal here in the Philippines, but it’s about as close as it can get over here. The Catholic Church is against divorce, and marriage states that a married couple should be bound to each other until ‘death do us [them] part’. I’m not normally someone who just follows whatever the Church says, but in this case, I vehemently agree with them.

I actually find divorce annoying, especially when it’s unneeded. The celebrities who marry and divorce and keep repeating the cycle violate the sanctity of marriage, and they’re just really annoying since it seems that they can’t keep their eyes off of other people even when they’re with nice looking people themselves. The most recent example I can remember is the one where the Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian divorced (I don’t know Kim but I know Kris from the New Jersey, soon to be Brooklyn, Nets so that’s why I know of this issue) after only 72 days and I find that head-scratchingly stupid. Why marry if it’s just for that?

I also have relatives who have separated from their spouses, 2 or more, I think. My parents taught me when I was small that marriage should last forever and that divorce is bad, and when I learned that two old people I knew (not withholding any info because the wrong person might see) were separated or would separate, I immediately lost a lot of respect for them. I know that there are always circumstances, but I know for a fact that those people I knew were not wife-beaters or anything so I’m sure the marriage would be somewhat salvageable. Unfortunately that was not the case. Given my personal experiences and feelings on divorce, I am definitely against it, but I can see situations where it would actually not be sinful.

I dislike divorce a great deal but even I know that some unions are best to not last. Like for example, where one of the partners is an alcoholic and beats his wife and children. In serious cases like those, I don’t see that divorce is inappropriate, especially if the offending partner cannot reform. Basically, I feel divorce is not bad when the offending partner causes an irreparable deal of physical or emotional harm to the other, and not in nonsense terms like the ones that get thrown out in court like ‘irreconcilable differences,’ but actual harm. Now, I wouldn’t want it to reach that level, but then for me, that should be the tipping point, when divorce should be considered acceptable.

I consider myself to be a moral rationalist based on my answers because I consider the general principle and the situation into my analysis of the situation. I also use reason to evaluate the situation and see whether it is appropriate to do the action in question or not. Although, I feel that I have a tinge of absolutist in me because I get upset about the subject of divorce because of my personal experiences.

If you want a divorce, I really think you should think a long time about your actions before you even begin to do anything. I know you, and I know you’re not a bad person in the inside, so what’s wrong with your marriage? Are you sure it can’t be salvaged? Think about it first. Take the road of reason. Consider the ethical implications of your actions, assess what good and bad can come out of your decision, and take a long look at your situation. You’re the one in it, so you hopefully should be the one to best determine what to do because you’re experiencing it yourself. Think about if what you’re doing is right or wrong. Examine it using the road of suspicion. Are you doing this to gain pleasure or avoid pain? If you are, look back on your motive. Why are you doing this again? It might be intrinsically wrong. Also, if you’re not sure on what to do, assume it’s wrong. This is the cautious way of deciding. It’s best to take caution. So, think about what you’re doing. I’d say, don’t divorce, but I don’t completely know the situation. It’s up to you then. Try to go for the right decision at least.

GMOs

I don’t really see that many things wrong with GMOs or Genetically Modified Foods, so I’m not against it. I found that quite a large percentage of foods are modified in some way, and I’ve been eating them for a long time, so I don’t really see any reason to change. GMOs are also modified to fit our tastes and in some cases, even increase nutritional value, so I can’t actually complain about that. The people modifying the food are making it more palatable to our tastes. Although I acknowledge the environmental concerns. GMOs could unintentionally harm the natural plant population so a solution needs to be formed for this.

Kropek

Last Friday, the class made Kropek, which is made when you cook Kropek plates (or whatever you call them) in oil and wait for them to expand to an optimum size. Each group had an oil to cook the Kropek in. My group had corn oil while others were butter, olive oil, canola oil, etc. I thought that all the Kropeks tasted similar. I knew there was something different about each of them, but I couldn’t tell exactly what because of my limited taste sense. Although I did taste a lot of butter in the butter group’s Kropeks.

CLE Worksheet Pascal’s Wager

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Problems with food and how chem can help

I think the biggest problem most people have about food is that we keep eating it, and not just any food, usually the good food which is pretty unhealthy. We don’t really know what’s in food and what constitutes a healthy diet in chemistry terms, so it always helps to know and understand food chemistry. A better understanding of food chemistry would help people have healthier diets, if they actually follow it.

 

Another problem we have about food is that a lot of healthy foods aren’t really palatable to the tastes of many people. Maybe chem can help in changing its taste but they have to find a way to do that without harming its nutritional value.

Food

I think the reason the author(s) think those foods are weird is because the foods discussed in the articles are not frequently eaten in Western countries. They’re also usually disgusting or naturally repelling objects that you wouldn’t expect to taste good at all, like tuna eyeballs and dried lizards. But there are also some stuff that I don’t find weird there like bird’s nest, but that’s just because I live in a place where foods like those are eaten. So it’s mostly subjective. My definition of food is something that you eat that either tastes good or is good for the health. So I don’t consider stuff like paper clips food. I think I have similar tastes to the authors of the articles because I agree on them that most of those foods are weird, although I’m really not adventurous when it comes to food because I tend to stick with food I know. I think my five weirdest foods would be: 1. This tofu where live fish are cooked with it 2. Crocodiles and lizards… reptiles… 3. Amphibians too like frogs’ legs 4. Stuff with maggots in them 5. Tuna eye

VC Blog

I thought that our VC with St. Mary’s was very successful because both sides were very prepared for it and gave excellent answers that represented their schools and cultures respectably. But even though both sides were prepared, it didn’t give the impression that the answers were self-made (well, in our side, they weren’t) because the conversation was spontaneous and interactive. Everyone from our side spoke up and I feel that we were able to represent Xavier and the Philippines exceptionally as our answers were well thought out and our thoughts were expound upon so that the other side could get the full picture. I feel that I did an okay job speaking, although I could’ve done better because I didn’t speak up as much as my other groupmates, but I still contributed to the discussion a few times. However, there were a few things that I wanted to say but I ended up not saying because I was slightly nervous to, so I have to get over that. The only thing that was lacking in the VC, I feel, was the connection and audio quality because sometimes I couldn’t understand what the Australians were saying properly because of either choppy connection or bad sound.

Alcohol Poster

Drink Moderately

CLE Matters

3 most relevant lessons/topics during the 1st sem

1. Social Justice

2. Circle of Faith in Action

3. Epistemological World Views

2 most important skills developed through the sessions/assessments

1. How to develop a more diverse view of the world using the epistemological world views

2. Respect for people of different cultures and religions and how to properly conduct yourself in front of other people.

Significant Insight

Despite our differences in culture and religion and income and social status, we are all equal and we should treat each other this way.

Painful Moments

5. hitting my head on something

4. “emotional pain” …

3. hearing and seeing random stories of people getting hurt and feeling their pain

2. stepping on broken glass

1. constipation

There’s not much…