In my one month of work I have learned a lot. I have had to confront my own thoughts and biases about poverty and homelessness. In college the concepts of poverty and homelessness are studied but that’s it, they are concepts not people. It is one thing to discuss and theorize in a classroom about something but it is quite another to see it in real life – to apply the idea of “feminization of poverty” to individual people and their families is harder than talking about it.
The same is true of social class. Social class can be several chapters of a sociology textbook. It can spark discussions by people who don’t really have any experience outside their own group. In fact, there is an episode of Sex and the City dedicated to the topic entitled, “The Caste System”. In my own life I had a small amount of experience with people richer or poorer than myself. It is easy to fake knowledge/ worldliness because of exposure to documentaries and the news etc. but until one is faced with it directly it is easy to pretend the issue doesn’t exist.
I hope my time with Embrace will help me to broaden my perspective and teach me understanding and compassion.
Filed under: Youth Invasion
