Inside Out

Shannon Mendez
7/11/19
Blog #5

Inside Out 

As an immigrant in this country, I never imagined going so far in life. The hard work payed off in the end and being an EYA Intern has made me view things differently and from a broader perspective. Social injustice issues are all around us and we cannot help, but to realize that it is the reality we live in. Even though sometimes the news does not cover what should be in the front page, we start to form our interpretation of what an issue may or may not be. Therefore, I decided to be more involved in my community to make an impact in people’s lives and to change the policies needed to make this country a better place to live.

Through this internship, I started to connect the dots together of what it really means to be involved in policy change and advocacy work. Most importantly, it taught me the most important lesson which is to set boundaries between your work life and your personal life. Not to mention that selfcare will always be the best care. Moreover, it has shown me the dedication the person truly has to have in order to put the work into use to hope for a successful change to the social injustice issues. This has all been proven to work if you do research, keep an open mind, consider different solutions to a problem, and maintain a purpose and goals to keep you on track along the way.

Luckily, I got the chance to be placed working with an Organization called “RESULT” which works to end poverty in the national and global level. Every morning, I wake up early and commute to go to work, but as I am walking to my workplace, I cannot help to notice the homeless and those people struggling to put food on the table for their families. As I see the struggle, I use that as my motivation and my drive to complete every task and project in my work site which will be used to lobby and advocate for several bills and policies to pass congress and be placed as a law to better people’s lives. I know it is easier said than done, but after completing most of the work from this internship it has taught me that nothing is impossible anymore. This organization has also taught me that working as a team is the key to accomplishing the mission of their organization as long as they distribute different roles and have good work ethics to get the work done.

Furthermore, I have taken full advantage of this opportunity because this will put me in a head start into my career as a future social worker. This major is very broad, and this is why I decided to take the initiative to get involved and represent those who are underrepresented, make our voices count, and make connections to collaborate with others while making a change in our country.



Comments

  1. I am so glad you're learning about boundaries and self care. I am reminded of what Thomas Merton said: "To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his or her work for peace. It destroys one’s own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of one’s own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."

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