A Lesson
May 28, 2007
Today is my baby sister’s birthday. She turned 15. It’s startling how quickly she is growing up, and how rebellious she has become. Tonight, her new love interest came over for dinner. It was rather awkward for me, considering he is in my grade and I went to school with him for 4 years or so…and considering he had that thing with JD a while ago…well I’d just rather not go there. I’m trying to remain neutral about everything, and not judge. He is a nice enough guy but I’m still unsure of if I want her hanging out with him or not. Time will tell I suppose.
Bah. Time. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to do all the stuff you have to do. Just because I’m 17 - nearly 18 now - doesn’t mean I don’t experience how demanding a day can be. My job is demanding, and I know that people often ask how I can “handle” working with people with developmental disabilities. I’ll tell you now; my challenge isn’t working with them, its doing all the stuff that I have to do in order to keep the organization running smoothly for them. Our organization is all about creating real social experiences for our members and as a Summer Student (and co-op student for that matter) most of my work and time goes into planning all of the summer events we have. We go camping 4 weekends in June and July, and we have a weeklong camp at the end of August. Plus we have dances, clubnights, and day trips. It’s a lot of work - especially planning a successful camp. But the members are worth the effort, because they enjoy it and are grateful.
In my opinion, I am not doing anything special or brave. Everyone should be given the chance to make friends and live life the “normal” way. Everyone should be treated equally and with respect. No one is better then anyone else. That’s what I believe and that is why it is easy for me to work with the developmentally disabled. I love it. I helped a member who can’t use their hands eat lunch today, and it made my day that she would specifically ask for me. I like making someone else feel good and included in the community.
Tomorrow I am helping to run a volunteer orientation. I will be in charge of two stations; the first one is about what our organization expects from our volunteers, and the second is a station on gossip, tact and confidentiality. What I have noticed about a lot of the high school volunteers at Sunrise is that they are less tactful when asking questions or talking to other volunteers. For example, at the New Years dance that just past I had a guy volunteer say “Oh my God! What happened to your arm?! It looks like you got malled by a bear!” I was stunned because he wouldn’t have said something like that to a member, so why did he say it to me?
I want new volunteers to know that gossip isn’t aloud in this kind of I hope that we can mold and shape these eager volunteers to treat everyone the same; with respect, empathy, understanding, and tact. Tomorrow will be a long day though, and I really hope that I don’t mess up on my words because I want to be understand. I want the potentialenvironment, and that they can’t afford to be tactless.
And in case it wasn’t obvious…I am dead tired and I barely know what I’m talking about.
Also, I am thinking about a total blog makeover…maybe even a new name. Any suggestions? I briefly thought “Jess Is A Mess” would be a funny blog title, but Karen thinks its lame and seems to think MMS suits me just fine. Suggestions really are welcome!
May 29th, 2007 at 10:29 am
< ![CDATA[I really do respect what you do and the adult way in which you do it. I never could and I never would do those things.
“Jess is a Mess” is good, but what about “Jess’s Mess” instead? Or:
“Emo this, fucker”
“The Pursuit of HappyJess”
“I’ll be nice when you deserve it”
“18 going on 40″
“So I’m Pretty. Fuck Off.”
“Miss Misery Loves Company”
“The best thing to come out of Canada since maple syrup”]]>
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:20 pm
< ![CDATA[I liked Miss Misery, but love
Miss Misery Smiles even more….Nifty must have contributed to the smiles, lol.
I still think it’s a keeper~just like you are, Sweetie.]]>