What should we do when we face adversity? … I learned one of the ways to handle adversity through this program. The first time I went to
ActivCare, it was totally different than I expected. I thought I could communicate with the
elderly residents at ActivCare and we could understand each other. I thought I could gain
something special from elderly people because they have lived longer than I have. One of the
workers introduced a woman who can only speak Japanese to us. So we started to talk to
her, and after about 3 hours, I realized the symptoms of their disease. I understood what
disease they had before I went, but I saw it in practice. We talked about the same thing
again and again and again. We repeated the same conversation several times. In addition,
she spoke a random mix of Japanese and English. We were confused by such a thing and
that day; I was exhausted from volunteering. A few days later, I rethought about that volunteering.
I don’t want to quit anything halfway, including this situation. I thought that I
should overcome such problems that I faced one by one.
People cannot do 3 different things at the same time, so I decided to try one thing per day. It is a better solution than to
trying to solve all the problems in one breath. One day, I tried to talk to at least 3 elderly
people. Another day, I tried to find a new thing. Another day, I went to ActivCare and I was glad to talk
to a woman who was smiling while sitting in her wheelchair. My heart was moved by such
a small thing. Really, with just a smile I could change my mind not to think about what I have
to do or I hate, but to think about what I can do or I love. So, going back to the
question, I learned that I should be flexible in the face of adversity.
Secondly, have you ever wondered if your work is really
needed? You might have thought about this question when you did some monotonous task. For KFG, the jobs are not hard. We just did things like cutting and peeling vegetables, packing
and sealing 3 or 4 kinds of meals in a box, and finally cleaning up the kitchen.
Sometimes, it was a little difficult for me to cut hard vegetables like carrots and melons. Once, I came up with the question “do they need me?” I thought hard
about this question. I think most people have an experience of thinking about
this question. Even if the tasks are simple and small, they need volunteers to
help them. They need manpower. “Many hands make light work”. In other words,
small things could become big one if they are gathered together. I realized
this when I watched one of the videos in this class about how to start a
movement. I was so impressed by this video. The main point of the video might
be different from my topic, but I realized that this mindset is also the message
of the video. It could connect with many other things in society. The work of
each person might be small, but seen from a broad view, every part is
important.
Finally, I realized two important things for me through this
program. The first thing is to be flexible. You should be adaptable to do anything, but not
completely changing. There are two type of things in this world, what you can change and
what you cannot change. Everyone has their own priorities that must not change
whatever happens… so you have to judge what is best for you. The second thing is that small
things could add up to make a big difference. The power of one person might not be strong, but
the power of 100 people who are doing the same action can make an impact.
