The other day at work, one of our clients called the police for a really minor and non police related matter. The police arrived promptly, spoke to our client, and calmly explained for our client that she should not call the police for issues she described. With my little experience interacting with the police, I thought their calm response was very appropriate and standard. However, my coworkers were very surprised and amazed by their calmness. According to my coworkers, many cops have been rude, angry, and inappropriate towards clients and staff when they were called for minor altercations in the past. My supervisor then added that cops that have worked longer are often nastier and much less tolerant towards the shelter because they don't want to help homeless people.
My supervisor's comments made me think about administrators I have met in the non-profit realm and I realized that admins that have been working longer are more jaded and are quick to make (wrong) assumptions about clients and homeless people. That also made me think about how studies have said that people become more conservative with age. Also, how some/most parents have a hard time relating and understanding their teenage children, despite once being teenagers themselves. (Sorry about the random thought process... how i roll)
What is it that changes our view point as we get older. How do we change from strong minded and progressive people (those who are) once to being jaded and more conservative. Do we just get tired of the world because we see how little things actually change or work in our favor? But more importantly, how do we forget how strongly we felt once and the very real reasons that formed our opinions and values in the first place? How do we start blaming people for their homelessness when we knew once that homelessness is much more complicated than "bad luck" or "ones lack of responsibility." How do parents find their teenager's behavior puzzling when they once snuck out or did something rebellious?
I guess realizing that this process exists, makes me nervous. It makes me question my willpower. Will I lose faith in my beliefs and my ideals because things might not change fast enough to verify my work? Will I just start pushing papers around for a big paycheck and make fast judgement and assumptions about the very marginalized people I vow to help now? Will I forbid my daughter to wear short skirts because I fear she might get raped? I don't know! I want to say NO, I definitely will not! But can I beat the statistic? I guess, my friends, if you start to notice that I'm getting jaded or too conservative, please stop me and let me know!
