Making A Difference

Every person comes to a point in one's own profession in which he or she wonders if there is anything being accomplished at all. I've often asked myself if there is any self gratification for working in a place that will contribute to his or her hearing loss, add to the growing number of gray hairs, and possibly reconsider having kids in the near future. Working at the asylum for a long period of time will turn any happy-go-lucky person into a cynical and sarcastic person, a transformation that doesn't happen in an instant, but through time. It's a combination of broken promises, friction amongst friend and/or wo-workers, and seemingly long hours doing the same thing over and over again.

It's that constant cycle that can make a person feel edgy and somwhat frustrated that things, in one's own mind, will never change. In a way, it's like being stuck in the middle of a deserted island and you have no way of getting off it. Each one of us has a routine that one goes through andif that particular routine is broken then the shiznit hits the fan, in a manner of speaking. In some way, a person welcomes the mediocrity that is oftentimes a seemingly never ending cycle of telling the same kids to do the same thing time and time again. One can get somewhat stuck and in order to get out of it, something has to happen to pull that person out of that particular rut.

Inevitably, it will spill over into one's personal life as well. For some people, one's journey, though adventerous, has been considered a lonely road indeed. As he or she travels down that the road of life, it seems that one been passing the same signs, billboards, and places. On can have that feeling, that one has been completely going around in circles and there is absolutely no opening to get out. To venture off the beaten path, in a manner of speaking, amd meet new people that will peak one's interest. One starts to feel invisible and has that mentality that he or she is truly missing out on that one great adventure that one should be a part of.

In any case, the pressures of dealing with kids on a daily basis can take it's toll on a person. You spend countless hours telling them what they should and shouldn't do; but it can quite clear that it's going in one and out the other. Oftentimes there is skewed line inwhich can't destinguish if there is absolute success or absolute defeat when trying to get though to kids. One's ego can take the brunt of it; but ultimately what it boils down to is the absolute challenge to getting through to a child by any means necessary. For me personally, it's the challenge of connecting with kids in several different ways that the kids have responded in a more positive than a negative way.

In retrospect, you know you are making a difference in a child's life when they have seen you completely angry, frustrated, and totally stressed out; BUT at the end of the day, they still want to give you a hug and that is best reward I can ever receive. I end this thought with a quote by George Bernard Shaw and he says, ~This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can.~