One thing that we can get in a short story is the moral values which we can apply in our daily life. Short stories can even change our perception about life because of the lessons that they can give to us. Sinigang by Marie Aubrey Villaceran gave me different values which I can use or apply in my life. This story made me realize many things especially about families.
The first thing that I learned in this story is to be faithful to your partner. Even if I don’t have a romantic relationship with anyone, I can still apply this lesson for the future specifically if I were to have a family. We can see in the story the effects of having an extramarital affair with another guy or woman. It can break trust, can destroy a relationship, can make someone suffer emotionally and can cause family problems which will highly affect the children. I actually know what it feels like to be in a family with an issue the same with the story. Those effects really happened in our family that is why I can really relate to the story. I even promised myself that I won’t commit adultery because I really know what it feels like to be a victim. You have to be sure of the person you are going to marry so your marriage will be successful amidst the other problems that you may encounter.https://www.youtube.com/embed/X2p2CdlIkQw?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en&autohide=2&wmode=transparent
Additional and related opinions about adultery or having an extramarital affair
They say that men in the Philippines are usually having an extramarital affair with another woman. What do you think are the reasons behind this?
I think some married men commit extramarital affairs because of lust and desire or lack of sexual satisfaction. They may not be content with their life with their wives and they may be unhappy in their current marriages. Some marriages are also not working or unsuccessful which leads the man to look for another woman. Maybe along their marriage life, intensive problems, misunderstanding, incompatibilities and fights happened which made men to feel exhausted and commit adultery. Whatever reason a person has, both man and woman, committing an extramarital affair is still a choice. You cannot say that it is not intended because before you commit this sin, you have a time to decide and people to remember.
They also say that it is ordinary in Filipino culture for husbands to look for another woman to satisfy their desires because they are men and not saints. How would you react to this?
It is common in the Philippines that husbands are committing adultery, but it is NOT a normal thing to do. Adultery will never be a right thing to do so why should we call it ordinary? It will never bring benefits for us aside from the specific satisfaction of the one committed adultery. Yes, men are men and even women are women. We are all people who commit mistakes, but the thing is, we have the chance to decide and we are taught simple things like we should not cheat. We have our own mind and we all know what is right and wrong. Adultery is a choice and we can never say “Hindi ko sinasadya”. There are consequences in every action that we do. Adultery can lead to broken families and hardly affect the children, it can break trust and it can trigger emotional volatility and extreme emotions for the one being cheated. Men are not saints, same with the women, but we should remember that we have a chance to decide on our own and we have people and things to consider before deciding on a thing.
The second lesson that I learned in the story is giving respect, especially for elders, and being obedient. In the story, it showcases many Filipino traditions and one of these is respecting the elders. Liza still respected her aunt in the first part of the story. Even though she doesn’t like talking about her experience during the wake, she still answered all the questions that her aunt was asking. Liza also respected her father despite her distant relationship and resentment with her father. She even followed her mother to attend the wake of her half-brother because of her father’s request and this is where the obedience can be noticed. Another thing that I noticed is Liza’s respect for Sylvia. Her emotions became unstable at the time she met the woman, but still she didn’t lower herself to shout and disrespect the woman. I admired her for that. These two lessons motivated me to continue being respectful to anyone no matter what their age, status, gender and others, and to be obedient as long as that specific action will not bring danger to anyone.
The third lesson that I learned in this story is being strong and composed amidst the problem that we encounter. We all know that Liza is a daddy’s girl and she was hurt when she learned that her father cheated, yet she became strong in handling her problems in her family. She didn’t lashed out at her father even though she had grudges with him. She never gave up on her problems even though she was hurt. Maybe being rebellious is a way to calm and rest herself from her problems in the family. I can say that she is a strong independent woman which I admired about her. When she met Sylvia, she remained composed because she doesn’t like arguments and fights.
The last lesson that I learned is associated with the previous lesson. It is forgiving and moving forward. Forgiving is like freeing ourselves. It is freeing ourselves of negative feelings and emotions that we have to other people. It takes time to forgive, but we should never forget the lesson it taught us. We can rebuild what is lost little by little and learn to accept someone who made a mistake. Just like Liza who learned how to forgive her father and start new memories with him which means that deep inside, the love for her father didn’t vanish. Yes, there will be scars that will remain, but we have to realize that our life is not only about rainbows and flowers. This is the reality that people make mistakes even the kindest man you ever know. We should let go to our grudges to free ourselves. This lesson really taught me to forgive and to let go of my grudges against anyone. Just like now, I want a peace of mind so I decided to forgive my father and make his soul at peace too.
These are the lessons I learned in the amazing short story “Sinigang”. It will really teach every reader about the importance of having a strong foundation between family members, respecting, being strong, apologizing and forgiving especially to the Filipino families who are experiencing the same issue with the story.
Pieces of Me 