my job as a Residential Youth Worker with CYF teenagers for the last 9months has been something of an emotional rollercoaster.
Every day different, every day forcing you to leave behind the happenings of the day before.
Every day forcing you to start fresh and squashing down those feelings that are still waiting to be acknowledged from previous work days.
I have shed many tears and let out many of my loud laughs over the last 3/4 of a year working with these kids.
I have had unimaginable words (of the explicit type) spat at me in ways that are hard to let go, I have had a few 'physical encounters' and yet I have also had many, many special moments.
It's those moments that I choose to remember most.
These kids keep me up at night as I ponder the day I've had with them, they distract me on the days I have off, and they always remind me of the struggle to love and be loved. The battle to be important and noticed.
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Today I came across this article that I so wish more of our kids would not just hear, but listen to. Words for them to not beat them down but lift them up, words to make them strive for more, to work hard, to accomplish their dreams. To realise their potential. To realise they are needed.
"Northland College (NZ) principal Jahn Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth........... "Always we hear the cry from teenagers 'What can we do, where can we go?' .........My answer is, "Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick and lonely again." In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you!".
Hopefully this works this time, although I can't say it will be as poetic as the first time :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so blessed to know what you want to be doing with your life and to have such passion for it. Despite the swearing, 'physical encounters', and burden that you now carry for these kids, I know you are doing what you were always destined to do. You give these kids something that they have never had, and although some of them won't know it yet, you will have a huge impact on who they become as people. You might not be able to change the choices they make in life, right or wrong, but I know that every single one of them will think of you at some stage and remember the love that you gave them, no questions asked.
I am envious that you are doing something you feel so passionately about. I thought I had found my calling when I was about 4 years old, I carried that through until I was 19 and it was only then that I realised I hadn't explored any other options and I had outgrown my dream. Unfortunately it feels like it is too late to start again, to find, and do, what I want to do.
I am always so proud that I can call you a friend, and one that has such an open heart to help others, and also listen to what God wants to you to do.
I love you very much xx