These are a few excerpts from my paper:
To be completely honest, I don’t like kids. I
really don’t like kids. I have stated this in class before and I am entirely
unapologetic about my opinions. I will say however, that I genuinely enjoyed my
time with the kids at IHAD. At first, I was incredibly hesitant about heading
into a “classroom” environment. Despite the eight hours of tutor training
(which I will admit was very helpful), I still felt overwhelmed. People kept
mentioning that as tutors we will be role models to the kids. To tell you the
truth, I’m probably one of the worst role models a kid could have. I’m bitter,
angry, and I drink too much. I am radical in my political views to the point
that I’m certain that I should be on a government watch list. Also, I hate
kids. But I’ll be damned if spending time with those children didn’t make my
heart grow three sizes those days. I was legitimately surprised at the manner
in which those kids received us. While they were slightly mischievous in
attempting to avoid doing their work, they always seemed thankful for our help.
Maybe I’m projecting a bit,
but I honestly think they really enjoyed our interaction with them. When Mister
Jazz introduced us before tutoring each day, they thanked us in a chorus of
yells. To tell you the truth, I will never be as dedicated to anything as Jazz
is to those kids. It seems as though he’s basically adopted thirty plus
children. His dedication to those kids’ education is inspiring. I could never
make the sacrifices that he does day in and day out for those kids. Though many
of my tutoring events were exercises in controlled frustration, at the end of
every session, I felt great.
Now, I want to talk about
one student in particular.I suppose to maintain anonymity, i should use a false name. Let's go with James. Every time I was assigned James, I smiled. He was
always a pleasure to work with. He was sharp as a tack when it came to his
school work and yet he still knew how to interact comfortable with people
almost twice his age. I know that I only had a passing influence in his life,
but it’s comforting to me to know that I assisted in pushing him in the right
direction. I will never be able to see where he goes in life, but I am one hundred
percent sure that he will succeed in something great. I didn’t do much, but I’m glad that I got to interact
with a kid that seemed genuinely interested in his studies and was fun to talk
with as well. I was definitely not looking forward to my tutoring experience,
but I will say that working with James made it all worthwhile.
Now looking back on this blog, I have written about the drug war, private prisons, the war on women. So, what do they all have in common with
this course? It’s about human dignity. This course has turned me into a
militantly empathetic person. I will use the example of my classmates being unsympathetic
to the working class poor as an example. Seeing that kind of dismissive
behavior regarding the dignity of another human being was enraging. This course
has demonstrated to me that in order to be a citizen of this world, you have to
recognize your personal privileges. I am a white male. I am afforded so many
more rights than a white female or a black male. I don’t even have to try to
receive this treatment. It’s inherent and automatic. However, recognizing this
privilege is incredibly important. Something I encounter at this university,
and online, is the inability for people to recognize just how lucky they are.
They’re a bunch of new age Bobos toting around Mac books with zero
consciousness of the world around them. They might believe that they are doing
well by “raising awareness” of racism by having a bake sale on the quad, but
they’ve really just turned around backwards on the moving walkway of racism.
I think that the moving
walkway metaphor works for so much more than just racism. There seems to be an
outright war on human dignity in this country and all anyone is doing is
complaining. It seems as though people are willing to recognize that our world
is a broken place, and they want to fix it, but nobody’s doing anything. Everyone
has turned around on the moving walkway. Some, like those who complain about white
guilt in humanities, are ignoring that by not acting, they are participating. Well
I’ll be damned. We’re all human beings and it’s about time we started acting
like it.
So, what did I take from
this course? I don’t think it’s about cultivating global citizenship. I don’t think
it’s about learning about racism. I don’t even think that it’s been directly
discussed this entire semester. I learned how to be a genuinely empathetic
human being. I was awarded privileges that the kids at I Have a Dream don’t
have access to. Recognizing one’s own privilege is the very first step to
becoming a better person. So it’s my duty as a human being to do my best to
make sure that I am actively trying to better the world by helping those less
fortunate than myself. Seems pretty simple to me.
“Hello, babies. Welcome to
Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and
crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's
only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you've got to be kind.’” –
Kurt Vonnegut
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