Couple of years ago... I was on my way to my aunt's house to stay-over, when I realize that no one was home at that time. Not knowing what to do, I went to lot one, library and grab a book to read. It was a book on "Revolution". Couldn't remember what exactly was the content but could remember it was talking about a change... A change in what the people was doing... If I am not wrong... It was the removal of changing sacrificial rituals.
Recently... just met with a lot of people... talked about some stuffs... realized I was lost...
Lost... Lost within myself...
Lost for the past year... Lost within the teaching...
Forgot... Forgot about the teachings I was taught... Forgot about the teachings I learnt...
Last night was a long night... A night with many thoughts... Thought about what I was talking to a volunteer named Jian Sheng(I think).. Someone... who is sincere and admirable... Not through words... but with actions Though about what my current IS/I&E teacher said in class Somehow... all seems to be linking with one another
Heres a question...
If one day your friend tells you this sentence... " I am a very humble person " Would you have believed that sentence?
Obviously not... That sentence itself is contradictory to the content...
In the field of social work, work interacting with people, vulnerable group... And a certain phrase...a certain set of sentence would come out...
"Ok we must not discriminate anyone... no matter who they are... how they may be..." "Ok ... So we are going to help such and such group of people... you must remember... they are this this and this... you must becareful with your speech... you must not do this not do that... we are going there to help them..."
Funny isn't it?
I do not mean that we should not becareful with our words, we must still be sensitive about the words we say... the term we use... I am not really sure and its quite hard to express what I am thinking in mere words...
Watching videos... Reading this post... Will not let you understand and learnt everything... Experiential learning is good... But would it be possible to look beyond just the term and saying "you are going there to help people" I am not saying that this is wrong... but its a matter of how are you going to look at this sentence...
I would say that...
We are not going there to help the people... many of them are just like us... who can socialize, play and think as good as us or maybe even better... like what our course lecturer would say... we need to find a business model to help them.... but i would like to put it in a more simpler and general term which is... we need to do something about the system that the people are living in...
To Jian Sheng whom i mentioned about... he did community service/volunteer work and mostly its for the physically handicapped people... he mentioned that when doing all these... instead of "helping" them... he would rather put it as "making friends" with them... reason being? they are just like us... they can talk... play...think and do most of the things like us.. just that they may meet with some difficulties when doing these tasks...
And WOW... It has been long since I ever heard such an answer... such an answer which I would say... a revolution...a change... to the traditional answer that people would give... like... "O...they need our help" "O... how could this have happened"
Nothing is wrong with these actually, but I am just tired of hearing people saying the same things over and over again... at almost everything.
Heres a question to whomever may be reading it... maybe the PCS people might want to ponder about this question...
"What would you consider as discrimination?"
****Open ended question****
**** Please consider it carefully before proceeding****
**** Take last 5 mins to think through your answer and confirms it again****
So what to you... Is discrimination? Using the word "maid" on foreign domestic workers is considered discrimination? Using the word "handicapped" on a physically disabled person is considered discrimination?
So do you consider discriminating your friend.. when you give them nickname like... "stickman" when they are really skinny... See.. almost every word that we use on others can be considered discrimination... But do we really see it as discrimination?
Not really I suppose... and I am not trying to imply that we must use those words on the people... but could we just... look beyond just mere words? But do we really have to be so tactful of our words even when you are around with people that you know?
Lets say you may start doing volunteer work for a VWO or NPO since many years ago... and you met this physically disabled person... and even up till now... say... after knowing for 5 years... you are still tactful of your words or always avoiding certain words... I am not trying to imply that we MUST use those words to show that we are close...
And to discriminate means to label; or to categorize in a sense.. As i remember once when I was talking about this to Sheryl... and yes... she taught me this... "its human nature to classify things" and yes we all cant deny it can we?
Be it positive labeling like "vertically challenged" for people who might not be as tall... or in a negative labeling its know as people who are "short"
But what difference does it make? it just make you more... Tactful... High-Class... Professional...
But deep down... do you think that the person you are saying this to does not really know what you mean? I believed that they might be "vertically challenged" but they might be as smart or smarter than us.
Just before I end off, I would just like to make a point that... Since we could have moved from the traditional style of social work style which is to avoid everything which is sensitive....
Into a second generation which is using positive labeling terms..
Why not for now... lets bring in a new age... a new generation... a revolution... lets look at the labels now which are considered "negative labeling"... And give it another look... a more positive look at them... a more positive look at words like "disabled" "short" or even "maid"
What I felt was wrong in the second generation is the way many people in the society look at the mere words that they see... but could they look deeper? Deeper into the meaning instead of just the superficial words... "Term" "Labels" and "Words" are just things that people in the past came up with to help convey message much more efficiently... but these days... we are looking too surface of these "words" as we are getting lazy.... lazy to understand what these words truly meant.
Thats why, a "Third Revolution" in the Social sector is essential
PS: If you have any comments... Feel free to write it at the tagboard... I would be happy to see.. both supporting and opposing feedbacks... much happier to see opposing view points actually... Labels: BZSE, change, label, labeling, social, third revolution
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