psychology
It has been difficult for me at times to connect with the people I work with. This is not something that I feel bad about, but something that I do wish to change. The problem, in my eyes, stems from the different backgrounds from which we come. I have never had to worry about a place to sleep, where my next meal was coming from, drug abuse all around me, etc. I have only had to worry about how my athletic team was performing, what private college I was going to attend and what kind of grades I needed to achieve. I do not think I will receive a lot of challenge if argue that these are quite different worries.
So how can a person like me help those whose psychology is so different? Our lives are lived in our heads. This is where we process our perceptions, formulate reactions and then actually thrust our decisions into existence. So while we do live in the physical world and people can see what we are like on the outside (because of the things we say and DO), everything that invloves our living must pass through our brains. Our individual psychologies have everything to do with how we live our lives. Therefore, in order to help those with whom I work, I must understand where they come from and why they do the things they do. The guys who come to the shelter will have much different thought patterns than I would use. So how do I understand people with different minds than myself?
This year has been important to me in two important ways. The first is that I have been exposed to literature and ideas that deal with social justice. I think that it is easy to get lost in mainstream society. That is, when we do not have to worry about the basic necessities of life we begin to worry only about the extras and forget that many people (in fact most of the world) do have to worry about food, shelter, etc. Luckily, being involved with JVC has exposed me to writers, articles and people who advocate for these kinds of causes. What is important is the exposure. Ignorance is one of the biggest barriers to creating equality in our society. It is not so much that we are dealing with a bunch of greedy people (although this is a problem), but that the many people do not know what it is actually like (besides some romantic vision of homelessness on TV) to be homeless and living in poverty. I say this because I believe that people have good enough hearts that if they really knew how bad life is for the homeless population they would offer some kind of help.
The other important experience that I have had this year is even more important than reading an article or talking to a peer. It is the actual physical exposure that I have had down at the Center and in places such as Tijuana. We need to see things to really feel them. We need to smell them too. We need to eat the meals that homeless people eat day in and day out. When I left Tijuana I felt broken. When I leave the Center some days I feel helpless. We need to have these feelings to help motivate us to act. I do not think that sitting on our yacht or spending time at the summer home will motivate us to give something up. In all honestly that life is just too good, too hard to give up. We need the actual homeless exposure.
And so to hopefully wrap things up a bit, these are the two experiences that have helped me identify with the guys at the Center. This may sound a bit simple, but it is not. We can all talk about immersing ourselves, but to actually do it is what is hard. As a member of JVC and the Center I have been forced to read the literature that deals with homelessness and poverty. Working in the Center has forced me to look at and smell homelessness every day. I cannot forget it (as much as I sometimes I want to). I still do not understand everyone perfectly, and I know that I never will. But it is good to be able to identify where people are coming from and why they are acting the way they do. If anything it keeps me in check. And this is why I believe anyone who says they really want to help must stay current on what is being written and must volunteer their time with the homeless. It is the only way to understand the problem and get motivation to actually help.
So how can a person like me help those whose psychology is so different? Our lives are lived in our heads. This is where we process our perceptions, formulate reactions and then actually thrust our decisions into existence. So while we do live in the physical world and people can see what we are like on the outside (because of the things we say and DO), everything that invloves our living must pass through our brains. Our individual psychologies have everything to do with how we live our lives. Therefore, in order to help those with whom I work, I must understand where they come from and why they do the things they do. The guys who come to the shelter will have much different thought patterns than I would use. So how do I understand people with different minds than myself?
This year has been important to me in two important ways. The first is that I have been exposed to literature and ideas that deal with social justice. I think that it is easy to get lost in mainstream society. That is, when we do not have to worry about the basic necessities of life we begin to worry only about the extras and forget that many people (in fact most of the world) do have to worry about food, shelter, etc. Luckily, being involved with JVC has exposed me to writers, articles and people who advocate for these kinds of causes. What is important is the exposure. Ignorance is one of the biggest barriers to creating equality in our society. It is not so much that we are dealing with a bunch of greedy people (although this is a problem), but that the many people do not know what it is actually like (besides some romantic vision of homelessness on TV) to be homeless and living in poverty. I say this because I believe that people have good enough hearts that if they really knew how bad life is for the homeless population they would offer some kind of help.
The other important experience that I have had this year is even more important than reading an article or talking to a peer. It is the actual physical exposure that I have had down at the Center and in places such as Tijuana. We need to see things to really feel them. We need to smell them too. We need to eat the meals that homeless people eat day in and day out. When I left Tijuana I felt broken. When I leave the Center some days I feel helpless. We need to have these feelings to help motivate us to act. I do not think that sitting on our yacht or spending time at the summer home will motivate us to give something up. In all honestly that life is just too good, too hard to give up. We need the actual homeless exposure.
And so to hopefully wrap things up a bit, these are the two experiences that have helped me identify with the guys at the Center. This may sound a bit simple, but it is not. We can all talk about immersing ourselves, but to actually do it is what is hard. As a member of JVC and the Center I have been forced to read the literature that deals with homelessness and poverty. Working in the Center has forced me to look at and smell homelessness every day. I cannot forget it (as much as I sometimes I want to). I still do not understand everyone perfectly, and I know that I never will. But it is good to be able to identify where people are coming from and why they are acting the way they do. If anything it keeps me in check. And this is why I believe anyone who says they really want to help must stay current on what is being written and must volunteer their time with the homeless. It is the only way to understand the problem and get motivation to actually help.
posted by Ryan at 1:00 PM
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