GO! EXPRESS YOURSELF

“No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”

-         Article III, Section 4, 1987 Philippine Constitution

Freedom of speech and of expression – the most famous right of every person not only here in the Philippines but in the entire world is given for us to have our right to express our thoughts and ideas. Every people may give his opinion to different kinds of issues around him. No one has the right to stop a person from expressing his points of views.

But, every right has its own limitations. So does the freedom of speech and expression. How will we consider if a person goes “beyond the line” with his freedom of speech and of expression?

For these past few days, I’d encountered different people with different points of views regarding the issue about their freedom of speech and most especially their freedom of expression.

For me, a person abuses his freedom of speech and of expression because of these reasons:

1. A person doesn’t think of the possible outcome of the idea that he will express. We must be responsible enough of everything that will come out of our mouth.
2.  A person is insensitive of others’ feelings. We must be sensitive to others’ feelings. Remember, words, sometimes, are the strongest weapons to hurt someone’s emotion. We could easily forget the physical pain that others gave us rather than the pain they gave us verbally.
3. A person has a great level of self-pride. People with great levels of self-pride sometimes are those who believe in themselves as superiors over other kinds of people. By this, they could easily step off someone’s integrity.

Sometimes, people misinterpret what we say or express. So, we must think first before spitting out what’s on our mind. I am just trying to point out that we have our different levels of understanding. Not all of us have the same interpretations to different issues around us. We don’t have the same Intelligence Quotient level or I.Q. level with each other. For us to avoid arguing with others, we must start thinking first the possible outcome of the words that might come out of our mouth. If you think that others will misinterpret what you will say, it’s better if you will not tell it anymore and just keep it in yourself.

The Constitution provides us the freedom of speech and of expression. We are free to use it by the way we want it. But still, I reiterate that every right has its own limitations. So better think first before you express what is on our mind.