Unravel Thyself: a Reaction Paper on Emmanuel Levinas’s Disinterested Responsibility
UNRAVEL THYSELF: A REACTION PAPER ON EMMANUEL LEVINAS’S
DISINTERESTED RESPONSIBILITY
“Dare to be different.” (p.220). If you will observe, students all look the same. Even though some wear uniforms and some are not, they still look like students, yet we know that each have their own specific roles, each one is different. The only question is how can they stand up and be known by everyone that they do exist.
Scholastican’s are known not only because the late Corazon Aquino studied here at St. Scholastica’s College but because we are all leaders in our own different ways and we serve others wholeheartedly. As a Scholastican, we are taught how to become better individuals in this society. The school equips us with knowledge and opens our eyes to the different things that are happening in the real world. By that, a new program was formed—the Service-based Learning. I am very fortunate to be involved in this said activity because I know that I will grow more and can use whatever experiences that I will obtain in my future years in life outside the school.
Having rendered services for less than twenty hours at The Commissary, I had encountered many guests with different moods, different wants, and different attitudes. Even if we stood there for hours without even trying to sit down, whenever I caught the attention of the passersby and been able to sell a culinary item for them, I can say that I am enjoying it and my tired body was rejuvenated by the smiles that my customers gave me. The “otherness” of these things is the otherness of something located external to me, something there at my disposition, innocently there for me, accessible and…because I can possess and master them, I suspend their “otherness” and make their alterity disappear. They are no longer other; they are mine. (Levinas. On Disinterested responsibility. p.221) I am being myself while I serve my customers and because of that, I am satisfying not only the people around me but
DISINTERESTED RESPONSIBILITY
“Dare to be different.” (p.220). If you will observe, students all look the same. Even though some wear uniforms and some are not, they still look like students, yet we know that each have their own specific roles, each one is different. The only question is how can they stand up and be known by everyone that they do exist.
Scholastican’s are known not only because the late Corazon Aquino studied here at St. Scholastica’s College but because we are all leaders in our own different ways and we serve others wholeheartedly. As a Scholastican, we are taught how to become better individuals in this society. The school equips us with knowledge and opens our eyes to the different things that are happening in the real world. By that, a new program was formed—the Service-based Learning. I am very fortunate to be involved in this said activity because I know that I will grow more and can use whatever experiences that I will obtain in my future years in life outside the school.
Having rendered services for less than twenty hours at The Commissary, I had encountered many guests with different moods, different wants, and different attitudes. Even if we stood there for hours without even trying to sit down, whenever I caught the attention of the passersby and been able to sell a culinary item for them, I can say that I am enjoying it and my tired body was rejuvenated by the smiles that my customers gave me. The “otherness” of these things is the otherness of something located external to me, something there at my disposition, innocently there for me, accessible and…because I can possess and master them, I suspend their “otherness” and make their alterity disappear. They are no longer other; they are mine. (Levinas. On Disinterested responsibility. p.221) I am being myself while I serve my customers and because of that, I am satisfying not only the people around me but