Running Head: AN UNEXPECTED SERVICE
An Unexpected Service
Elise Segars
Western Washington University
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“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.” This is a quote
by Mary Oliver and is something I have found myself coming back to over and over throughout
this quarter. We were told that by the end of fall quarter we would know ourselves, our passion,
what demographic of people we want to work with and the type of work we might potentially
want to focus our lives around. As I look back now on who I was in September, a lot of these
questions have been explored, but only a few have been answered. Through core I have learned a
great deal about myself, and interviewing showed me that I would like to work towards a degree
in mental health counseling. My focus has always been centered on helping children, but after
this class I find myself hoping to surround my professional life with an entirely different
demographic. Through my work during the quarter with the Chore program, as well as intense
analysis of the different lifespans, I find myself being drawn to people in the late adulthood
category of life. But let me give a better explanation for why I see this to be true.
I was lucky enough to work with an amazing man named Julian, (this is not my client’s
real name as he as wished to remain anonymous), as part of my volunteer work through The
Chore Program. Julian has had an amazing life, but has suffered through many hardships as well.
He is currently on oxygen and has a hard time with small household tasks such as taking out the
trash and making his bed. During my time volunteering with him he was in the hospital twice
and regularly woke up unable to breathe. Although he has two sons he is only in contact with one
of them and it is a very rocky relationship. Over these last ten weeks Julian and I have become
extremely close, and we always make sure to check in every week. I find myself increasingly
worried about his future, yet am also so blessed to have come into his life when I did.
Julian taught me many things in our time together that will greatly affect how I continue
on in the human services profession. He represents a forgotten group of people who still have an
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incredible amount of potential in their lives. I think that people always flock to the child based
service programs because they think it is where you can make the most difference. Before this
quarter I might have agreed. There is no group of people that should be forgotten. Just because
someone may have a hard time walking down the stairs does not mean they are useless. The
amount of love and energy that Julian brought into my day every time we met was enough to
make me realize how truly important his generation actually is, and how desperately they need
help. As diseases like Alzheimer’s continue to become more prevalent than ever it is imperative
that there are trained professionals who know how to help. I hope to be one of those people in
my future.
As demonstrated in one of our classroom discussions, stigmatization and discrimination
clearly arises around characterization of the elderly. I think this happens because people are so
scared of becoming old that they have to make it something that is comical in order to cope with
the reality of it. Because people do not understand what it means to become elderly they fear it.
This sort of fear is also very present around those who are terminally ill. In the film Wit, which
we viewed in class, the main character was constantly humiliated, forgotten, used and alone. I
think this is because people do not know how to act around someone who has such a permanent
diagnoses, so they choose to make it into an inhuman connection rather than actually face the
emotion. This seems to also be the attitude associated with the elderly. If more people were
required to take a class on late adulthood it would help educate our culture on the true meaning
of reaching later years in life. Through education we can end discrimination.
As the baby boomer population continues ageing I think the issue of discrimination
among the elderly will change, as also discussed in lecture. After my work with Julian I would
like to be a part of this change. As of right now, I am most interested in becoming a mental
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health counselor. I would like to start by working with people in early adulthood and eventually
solely focus on individuals in the late adult life span stage. Here is where I think a lot of work
can be done. Working with patients to understand how to live with diseases like Alzheimer’s
would be extremely rewarding for me. Helping their families fully understand the process would
be a part of my goal as well. I think that with the ageing of the baby boomers we will be exposed
to a whole host of new dementia diseases that we, as a culture, will have to learn to work with. It
is important that people of my generation take an interest in elderly care because of the greying
of our population and the inevitable need for service.
Although I can sit here, as a twenty-one year old white middle class female, and hope and
pray that this path is where I will in fact end up, there are a lot of challenges I can already
foresee. Although my time with Julian has been truly amazing it has also be challenging as well.
I have a big heart; making it easy for me to feel intensely connected to strangers I meet. There
were times during this quarter when I would come home crying after volunteering because of
how desperate Julian’s situation seems. He opened up to me a great deal about his past and his
mistakes. He and his son regularly fought, making me the person he would come to when he
needed to vent. I do not mind being that person for him, but at times it was hard because I could
also see his son’s side of the argument but was unable to take sides. Learning to disconnect from
future client’s situations will be a skill that I need to master. I have heard time and time again
that you need to leave work at the office in order to enjoy your actual life. People who
emotionally invest in every client burn out quickly and have to find new work. I want this to
never happen to me, so I will work towards guarding my emotions while being supportive.
In the next few quarters at Western I will be able to work with many different
demographics of people. Through my internships I will be exposed to situations I have never
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dreamed of, and people that I cannot wait to meet. I am hoping that these new interactions and
experiences will be as beneficial as the Chore program has proven to be. I want to continue
volunteering with Julian and further my understanding and experiences with the elderly
community. I am very grateful to this course for allowing me this opportunity.
When I look at my one wild and precious life there are several things I would like to do
with it. I want to stand in every country in the world at least once, I want to have a family and a
master’s degree, I want to save someone’s life, and I want to work with the incredible
community that is made up of people in their late adulthood years. This last goal, as new as it is,
is one that I feel very strongly about. There will be millions of goals added and taken away from
my list, but for now I feel both inspired and excited for where my path seems to be leading.
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