Lost and Alone

In class on Friday, we had been told to bring in an article to signify our culture in some way.  I honestly didn't know what to bring in, because in my mind, my family does things just like an average family does.  And so I felt like I would be the only one not to bring in anything.  I wasn't, which was nice, but I felt I could have brought in something knowing what other people brought in.  Someone brought in a lobster because everytime they get the chance to go to New Bruinswick (where they have family), they always eat lobster or bring a lot of it back home.  And I thought something as simple as that would have been easy. I remember one time going to Newfoundland with my parents, and on the way home we stopped to camp in P.E.I. While there my brother and I went to the corner store to get bottled pop for us.  We noticed they didn't have plastic bottles, they only had glass bottles.  We thought that was the neatest thing and so we brought a coke and a diet coke glass bottle home.  They mean a lot to me because of the curiousity we had when we noticed them.  We thought they only made those in the 50's.  We have them on a shelf at home.

That also got me thinking about where I come from, and what makes me who I am.  I thought about why I enjoy English, reading and writing.  The reasoning behind why I wanted to learn that was because both my parents are not fond of reading or writing.  My mom doesn't have very good English skills and has a lot of trouble with a lot of words, and my dad reads just so he doesn't start spelling like my mom.  Not very English oriented.  So I thought deeper.  My grandmother loves reading, and I'm sure if I asked her she would tell me she enjoys writing she just doesn't do it because nobody can read her writing and computers are not for her.  But then I went to think why I would have her interests, because my brother and I never spent a whole lot of time with her.  And so I came to realize, it wasn't my grandmother at all.  Growing up, I always had a special bond with my Grandfather.  Him and I used to do everything together, and I don't know why.  But before he died, he wanted me to read the biography he was writing on himself.  To this day I haven't gotten a chance to read it, but I'm sure if he was still with us, it would have been a best seller, just like the books I'm going to write.


Since being in the Child and Youth Worker field at Loyalist, I have been trying to fit in but be myself at the same time.  And although I've hurt people along the way it was fully and not my intention.  I'm not good at making friends and Friday's class reminded me that I'm just like my parents.  My mom has a voice on her, and I have a voice on me, my dad tries to be nice and so do I.  I don't know if anyone knows this, but it is hard being two very different people in one.  So this class helped remind me that I'm different.  I come from my mom, I look like my dad, but I am all me on the inside.

With all this, I know I'm going to be a good Child and Youth worker, and my reason for believing as such is because now that I have a much better understanding who I am as a whole, I can help children, teens and even young adults find themselves with different techniques.  I didn't figure it out traditionally through my culture and I didn't figure it out on my own without help, I figured it out with the help of the Child and Youth Worker Staff at Loyalist College, and with the help of all my classmates.  I could not be more grateful that this little bit of information will help me be a better person and a much happier one. Thank You Team!