Social Work

Last week I went to a Social Justice Retreat. It was actually the very first time I got a massive glimpse into the world I will be a part of. The reason I want to be a social worker is for a few reasons.

. To many of my friends lives hurt and messed up because of their parents, (LSW.)

. My family is privileged enough to be financially stable. Realizing that stability, I as an upper class child, should have helped someone do some thing, but I never did. There are so many people that NEED help and have no way to obtain it. Why not earn a little less money and have the assurance that people are better off because of me? (BSW)

So at this outing I realized some thing very interesting. The retreat was required for students in intro to social work classes all around our area. There were a total of 200+ future social workers present. Out of those 200+ people 150+ were struggling. We were divided into groups. Besides myself there was one other girl from an Adventist School. Other than that there was a 20 year old single mother, a meth addict, a jail bird, a bulimic and 2 homosexuals.

I started to get frustrated. How on earth could people who are struggling themselves help other people who are struggling? Why wasn't this retreat full of middle class citizens trying to make a difference in their society? How is it that the neediest people are the ones who see our nations problems? Then I realized something, these people want to be social workers so they can change their circumstances. They need to feel fulfilled in life and being a doctor isn't a realistic goal.

It's a little ridiculous to me that upper class citizens aren't trying to help those beneath them. I guess if anything, that retreat made me realize how much more I want and NEED to help those around me.

Stop looking through tunnel vision and see the world around you the way it really is.