For Good

by Trixia Tan

The discussion last Tuesday reminded me of a song in the musical Wicked, the title is “For Good”. It started with:

I’m limited
Just look at me
I'm limited

This is one of the main points in our discussion, as Levinas stated, we, as humans and as someone who will just understand self-love,are limited. It also goes to say that being is not enough with just being.

However, as the song continues on
 “I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

This basically attests to the fact that through relationships and through opening ourselves to genuine love, we reveal more things about ourselves and we grow more. It also foretells how we need to go out of ourselves and have relationships with other people.

The chorus and the last line go like this:

Who can say if I've been
Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been
Changed for the better
And because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
Because I knew you...
I have been changed for good...

This part is important in the song and as a link in our discussion because it translates to how relationships can really change lives and how being for the other can help us become someone better, which is what Levinas mean when he stated that we need to let ourselves go out of self love.


I’m pretty sure most of us can relate to this song.  We, as human beings, are limited, but then because of our relationships, we become someone better, we become someone with infinite possibilities. For one, just like how group works are, you can’t do everything alone. You might be able to do something or finish it, but having your group-mates, your friends, would be a lot easier and would result in something better, something “good” as stated by the song. Reciprocity, being calculative, shouldn’t be the thing that pushes us to do something;We need to be for the other just because and in turn our relationships will produce good.

Frozen

by Trixia Tan

I’m sure most of you have already watched the Disney animated film Frozen, It was a story of two princesses who learned the meaning of true love, and I guess, in a sense, it was also a story of two sisters learning “me here for you”.

First off, princess Elsa, who has fear running through her veins that she failed to acknowledge that life is a lot more than herself. She secluded herself into thinking that solitude is the best path, because she feared her power. Then there’s princess Anna who sees people merely in face value.

These princesses had encounters that opened themselves up and helped them delve deeper within themselves. Anna found Kristoff and it made her see that first impressions may not really be the lasting one. Then, there’s Elsa who had Anna to remind her of the fun that they had building Olaf, the snowman, while helping her see the beauty that is her power.

However, Elsa didn’t have an easy path in finding herself. It took her sister’s sacrifice for her to realize that she is infinite, that acknowledging that she is infinite and urging her feelings out would help her control her powers and become a better queen.


It was just like what Levinas teaches us when we have this certain experience with the other that makes us delve deeper into ourselves; disturbing us and making us realize that there is this infinite within us.