Immersion: A Way of Understanding

WHAT: Before reading “Helping, Fixing or Serving” by Rachel Naomi Remen, I never thought about what helping, fixing and serving really meant. According to Remen, “Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul” (Remen, 1). There are clear distinctions between each of those words. “Helping and fixing” construct people who are “helped” as others because it can make the people feel weak or vulnerable. This is supported by what Remen stated in her explanations of “helping” and “fixing” and how those who help may see life as weak and those who fix may see life as broken. Relating to Remen’s writing, Ivan Illich wrote “To Hell with Good Intentions.” Illich writes about how volunteering and “mission” work is not as needed or wanted as many people think. He writes, “It is incredibly unfair for you to impose yourselves on a village where you are so linguistically deaf and dumb that you don’t even understand what you are doing, or what people think of you. And it is profoundly damaging to yourselves when you define something that you want to do as ‘good,’ a ‘sacrifice’ and ‘help” (Illich, 5). I find it hard for someone to teach or understand other’s cultures and traditions without fully immersing themselves into those cultures and traditions. Also, Illich touches on what Remen wrote about regarding “helping” and “fixing.” Illich states that it is harmful to oneself when one tries to define their volunteering or mission work as a good deed, sacrifice or help. Again, when one defines their work as a sacrifice, it can have a negative connotation on the people or place they were working at. A sacrifice, in my opinion, can lead the one being “helped” to believe that they are a burden on the “sacrificing” volunteer. Illich expresses his aggravation and anger with volunteering by closing his writing with, “Come to look, come to climb our mountains, to enjoy our flowers. Come to study. But do not come to help” (Illich, 5). Through both Remen and Illich, we can learn that not all volunteer work, mission work or charity work is needed or wanted.

SO WHAT: Before reading and interpreting what Remen and Illich wrote about, I thought I was helping the people at Rotacare, my community partner. I am a support staff volunteer and I thought that by efficiently doing the work I do, it can take the load off of the other staff members so that they can have little more time to focus even more on the patients and effectively tend to their needs. After reading the two author’s writing, I now believe that I am serving at Rotacare. I do NOT see the staff or patients as weak or broken. I see them as human beings who need extra care and support to guide them through whatever illness they are facing. I think my perception of my role allows me to interact more freely and more compassionately with the people I meet. Remen writes, “Service is a relationship between equals: our service strengthens us as well as others” (Remen, 1). As I continue to work with Rotacare, I find myself looking to make connections with people rather than just doing the work I was assigned to do. These authors and Rotacare has definitely humbled me and opened my eyes to look from different perspectives.

NOW WHAT: Like I’ve briefly stated above in the “What?” paragraph, it can be hard to really understand other’s cultures and traditions without being fully immersed into it. Jose Calderon, writer of the reading, “Perspective-Taking as a Tool for Building Democratic Societies,” writes about how perspectives are an essential tool for understanding others and their culture. He writes of perspectives in different areas like democratic engagement, leadership, education and community. He speaks about President Obama and how Obama understood perspectives by writing, “When he became an organizer and placed himself in others’ worlds, he deepened this commitment, empowering himself to empower others” (Calderon, 2). Through immersing oneself into other’s lives, one can fully understand other’s lives and thus, only then can one fully serve others. When you put yourself in other’s shoes, you gain a new perspective on a situation, which can allow you to empower and enlighten others. I’ve noticed that with this colloquium class being affiliated with service learning, I have gained new perspectives of situations I come across. To further support my statements, Calderon writes, “The readings and our class discussions become ‘real’ when students meet with these day laborers and community organizers to work on common projects that emerge from their dialogue” (Calderon, 3). Again, immersing myself into the service learning program allows me to meet with people who are victimized and labeled as “other” for whatever reason, and make personal connections so that I can put myself in their shoes and view the situation from their perspective. Also, the connections I make with others can draw from my personal experiences. Experiences, I believe, shape one’s perspective. I think that the perspectives of the people at my community partner are the same perspective as I just described. The selfless staff members are able to empathize with the patients and truly understand their situation by connecting with them. During the second half of the semester, I hope to learn more about other’s perspectives. I’d like to try to connect with the people at Rotacare more as I believe that I can learn so much about not only them, but also myself.