Apendix: Ten years later, facing the new millenium

Ten years after publishing the book, Savater comes forward again to wander around in our heads in relation to whether changing both a century and a millenium affects the way our ethics is used. So so...


It is not a century or millenium that affects the way we behave, but our daily life. How we face every step we take and how we treat others every day counts.


What is important for us to remember is the fact that "all humans are born, love, struggle and die." We are human beings all the way and even with our differences, we are in the same quest of LIVING our lives. We must treat each other as we want to be treated even if the one I just talked to didn't treat me as I wanted or deserved...

We need to bare in mind that we are guests in this planet, temporary inhabitants of this place called Earth. We share it with others who are in turn guests as well. We should be conscious of the fact that this planet is our temporary home and therefore we need to take care of it and preserve it for future guests... Something that is urgent to do!!


With our present globalized reality it is sometimes difficult to see how integrated the world is nowadays, We interact daily with people from faraway places, different races or ethnics. However, this interaction seems more natural that it would have seemed a century ago. Unfortunately, there are still people who can't understand that, though humans, we are all different. They still tend to segregate... and discriminate against...


As hosts and guests of this planet and among societies and communities, we have to show signs of hospitality. Basically four words, divided into two sentences that will help us during our quest:


THANKS!!


YOU ARE WELCOME!!


PS: Enjoy your stay in this planet. Take care of it as if it were your house. Live a good life.

You'll have to think about it...

Your life is yours to live...

Whatever everybody else tells you, it is in the end YOUR CHOICE. Family and friends can GUIDE you, or ADVICE you, but finally it's your decission.

There is no recipe to live a good life. Noone can predict how you will live it because "The Good Life" is not pre-desinged or pre-established. A good life is taylor made. We invent and construct it as we experience and live it.

While on the way of living, we search and find out by ourselves, responsibly.

As teachers, we can help our students to discover ways of thinking and valuing life for them to be able to live a good, responsible and enjoyable life...

Freedom, Justice and Assistance

Living a good life within a democratic community implies freedom, justice and assistance.

We have the freedom to choose our actions, as long as they don't go against other people's, or accepting responsibililty for them. When acting we have to be just towards those who interact with us. This is, we must treat others as human beings and not as other type of living organisms...

As a community, we need to provide assistance to those in need, without dragging along those who are not in need of help.

Within the teaching experience, inside a classroom, we as students are free to choose many things (except for the teacher!!). We can choose to attend, to be absent, to do the homework, to participate, etc. As teachers, we have the freedom to choose how to teach the subject matter (pitty, not always...). We should be just in the way we treat our students, setting the example of how people should be treated in everyday life. In assisting our students when they have difficulties we are teaching them the value of caring for others.

"La petit morte"

Life is worth it. So, live it! Even through certain sorrows, we reach pleasure in life. Getting pleasure out of the actions and likes is part of what makes us human beings. Being a good one includes enjoying pleasures every day. We have to learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

The most we can get in life is Joy. Yes, with a capital letter because I think is one of the ultimate goals of life: to ENJOY it... Whatever we do should bring us joy. However certain things may give us just the opposite: sorrow. But we need to learn to live with that too...

With mildness in our heart and determination we can enjoy life fully.

As students, we need to find joy in what we study, if not it will be difficult to feel gratified. As teachers, we need temperance to help our students learn not only about the subject but also values that will help them be better human beings... We can help them find some joy in life... Quite an utopian thought, though... But not impossible