My Understanding of the Filipino saying that goes; “madaling maging tao pero mahirap magpakatao.”

There was a story about a student and a master who are walking in a garden. The student asked his master, “Master how I can be a great man just like you?” the master replied, “my student, you are already a great man, you have fulfilled your goal as being and not only that I have taught you the ways of a great man and all you need is to unfold it to yourself.” The student asked again, “Master, how to unfold it to myself?” and the master replied, “I am not you, you are not me, it depends on how you manage yourself, I cannot teach you that anymore, it must be in your own way, not my way.” Given the story, it is very much related to the man today. 

 

 It is easy to be a man; just simply born in a mother’s womb, grow up, obey the rules of your parents, then study, find a decent job, build a family then grow old and die. That is how simple to be a man. We are all created in the same manner; we all know that we came from our mother’s womb. What is different to us is the way our parents build us. The way they guide us as we grow old and understand the meaning of life. The environment that we have started when we were young, it all depends on the simple word “tao.” You are a man because you are born in this world; you are subject to all imperfections that this world is determined for. That is the concept of a man. 

 

To be a real man is hard because it pertains to the wisdom, insights and principles of an individual. With these insights and principles, a man understands and unveils his very being in his existence. Say for example, a student studies hard to attain a higher goal that is for the betterment of his future. That principle will enable him to have the title of a real man because he is not only studying for the rewards of grades that will be in change of his persistence but he studies because he knows that after the four corners of the classroom, there awaits the reality. All that he had studied in those four corners will be brought into application. Same as to man, a man is born, guided and taught by his parents and then, as he grew up, he faces the real world and his goal is to attain a full achievement in life. This is the concept of “magpakatao”  

A man fails to be a real man when he does not see his essence as being. It all lies in authentic existence. An authentic existence is based upon on what is a person must fulfill in his life as individual. When a man elevates his essence from personal to transcendental, he may have the capability to fully achieve what his principle in life is. This is what my understanding in the Filipino saying of “Madaling maging tao, mahirap magpakatao.”