Children that are neglected always end up not "normal." Normal meaning they go through the stages of life at a ordinary time. A neglected child might act more like a wild animal than a human. Walking and talking all might be very difficult tasks for a neglected child at the age of 8. Last night I volunteered in a soup kitchen in Uptown. As the huge crowd started to slow down, I had time to think about and talk to the guests that were there. I wondered what had happened that caused these people to be in the situation they were in. My teacher explained that there was a huge population of mentally ill people in uptown. The government cut funding for clinics, so the patients had no where to go but the streets. I wonder if anyone I saw last night was one of the patients. They were probably neglected because there families couldn't take care of them so they sent them to an institute. Some people at the soup kitchen had poor communication skills as well as poor motor skills. One man struggled to shake my hand after I had a pretty simple conversation with him. We just made normal small talk and then he had to go. The only thing that actually stuck in my head that he said was, "stay in school, you got your whole life to work." I wish I got to hear about his background. I often walk past homeless people without even giving them a thought. They actually might be more wise from living on the streets with the bare minimum than a person who has a PHD. I had an amazing experience in the soup kitchen and highly recommend everyone volunteering.
Children that are neglected always end up not "normal." Normal meaning they go through the stages of life at a ordinary time. A neglected child might act more like a wild animal than a human. Walking and talking all might be very difficult tasks for a neglected child at the age of 8. Last night I volunteered in a soup kitchen in Uptown. As the huge crowd started to slow down, I had time to think about and talk to the guests that were there. I wondered what had happened that caused these people to be in the situation they were in. My teacher explained that there was a huge population of mentally ill people in uptown. The government cut funding for clinics, so the patients had no where to go but the streets. I wonder if anyone I saw last night was one of the patients. They were probably neglected because there families couldn't take care of them so they sent them to an institute. Some people at the soup kitchen had poor communication skills as well as poor motor skills. One man struggled to shake my hand after I had a pretty simple conversation with him. We just made normal small talk and then he had to go. The only thing that actually stuck in my head that he said was, "stay in school, you got your whole life to work." I wish I got to hear about his background. I often walk past homeless people without even giving them a thought. They actually might be more wise from living on the streets with the bare minimum than a person who has a PHD. I had an amazing experience in the soup kitchen and highly recommend everyone volunteering.
I completely agree that sometimes we dont take teh tiem to consider what got people into the situatiosn tehy are presently in. No one, if given a choice, would ever choose to lack such basic necassities as fodo and shelter.
ReplyDeleteThat's really cool that you got to experience that and spend time talking to the various people who came to the soup kitchen. They all have such interesting backgrounds that we can all learn from, so it's really neat that you got to talk to them.
ReplyDeleteYour soup kitchen experience sounds interesting along with the different people you met. I also tend to ponder on people's backgrounds when they seem like unique characters. It really makes you wonder where they came from and how they were raised.
ReplyDeleteCool post. I like how you weaved the lessons into the community service experience.
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