(www.explodingdog.com)
“The need for belonging and community is a fundamental to the human animal as the need to love and the need to believe in something greater than oneself.” – Deborah Mathis
I don’t even know where to begin, I have never done a blog, I don’t consider myself a “good” writer, the things I feel inside me never seem to come out quite right when I write them done, but I am not doing this for personal gain….
I am a 21 year old college student I am in my final year and extremely passionate about issues of social justice…after living a sheltered life as a preacher’s kid, I was oblivious of the actual state of the world around me. I even have traveled to some of the most cultured places in the world: Ethiopia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Isreal, Greece, Rome, Jamaica, and yet I still found myself very niave and ignorant towards reality.
It wasn’t until about my junior year of college that my eyes were first opened to the concept that my comfortable lifestyle was in fact, one cause of the majority of the world living in poverty. Since that realization, I have tried to live a life that causes the least negative affects for the rest of humanity (if that is even possible as an American).
My natural tendencies have led me to be an idealistic dreamer…always hoping that maybe I can make positive impacts on others, even in the smallest of circumstances, I am afraid if I give up that hope, I will become hardened and bitter and there will be nothing to work for, nothing to live for.
My final senior thesis paper is on understanding homelessness on the most extensive level. My main objective is to dissipate the negative stereotypes of those living on the edge of poverty. Since I go to an expensive private Christian university, one could assume the there is much work to be done. I am open to suggestions, personal stories and struggles. My eyes, ears, and heart are open to being taught. Criticism would also be appreciated.
This passage from Michael Brown’s blog site, http://view-sidewalk.blogspot.com especially hit me hard, b.c. it of it’s bitter truthfulness:
More soon….
jessbobess 
6 replies on “idealistic vs. realistic”
Hi – you need to use a bigger font, I’d read your blog but it hurts my eyes.
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thanks for the help! I appreciate any I can get
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21 is a good age to be. You have the power to use your passion as a force to be reckoned with. I’m proud of you. Keep moving.
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Youth is wasted on the young-Socrates
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I had also read a similar quote by George Bernard Shaw, and while the quote is disheartening, it can also be multi-layered…It is true that as a young person, I often feel unknowledgeable ,helpless, and naive. I find myself swinging from one end of the podium to the other: at one moment I feel completely useless and apathatic and the next I feel self-righteous and in over my head…I agree that youthfulness can be wasted on the young, but maybe youth is more of a frame of mind…because I’ve known “young” people (like me) who often feel dead or old in spirit, and I have also met alot of older people who are much MUCH more intelligent, mature and knowledgeable than me and exude “youthfulness” much more than their younger counterparts…I dont know maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say…or maybe Im just bored
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“It wasn’t until about my junior year of college that my eyes were first opened to the concept that my comfortable lifestyle was in fact, one cause of the majority of the world living in poverty. Since that realization, I have tried to live a life that causes the least negative affects for the rest of humanity.”And you’re studying Social Justice in college? This is not something that a person trained in sociology would say… But it IS something that a person who had a “life-changing experience” would say! It’s all right there in the words you chose to use… You said “my eyes were opened” which means that you witnessed something drastic or maybe even something drastic happened to/around you. For a more specific guess, I’d say you felt you were lied to by somebody close to you for many years and you feel betrayed. As such, you have changed your values to the exact polar opposite of your “betrayer’s”, though some values you’ll never change.You said: “…the concept that my comfortable lifestyle was in fact, one cause of the majority of the world living in poverty.” Once again you take ownership of what you perceive to be YOUR cause of poverty in world. This further validates what I said above and expands upon it even further. Guessing again, I’d say that this lie/betrayal “revealed itself out of nowhere” and was such a shock to you that you feel you must dedicate the rest of your life to “righting this wrong” as sort of a self-inflicted punishment. You have found the one thing that both you and the poor have in common, which is being betrayed by someone of a higher authority. You also feel that you are beyond help (specific to this one situation) so it eases your pain a little to help others in a similar situation.You said: “I have tried to live a life that causes the least negative affects for the rest of humanity.”Humility and Compassion… The two positive resulting by-products of betrayal (Revenge and Distrust would be the negatives). “I have tried” reveals how humble you have become as a result of this, while “live a life that causes the least negative affects for the rest of humanity.” reveals how compassionate you have become for everybody at or below what you perceive as the needy.Lastly, you said: “My natural tendencies have led me to be an idealistic dreamer…always hoping that maybe I can make positive impacts on others, even in the smallest of circumstances, I am afraid if I give up that hope, I will become hardened and bitter and there will be nothing to work for, nothing to live for.”Your fear is that you will revert back to the person you were before, so you’ll do anything in your power, big or small, to make sure you never do. Or maybe you’re afraid of having another drastic event happen in your life again that affects your current beliefs and value system.OK… what point am I trying to make after I spent an hour writing all this stuff down and how does it relate to the actual topic?What you get out of it is what the point is.I know this might sound like a cop-out, but it’s really not… My “analysis” of you based on a couple of sentences could be so true it’s scary or so off base that I must be a nutjob. It’s not the analysis, it’s what’s IN the analysis that matters… It’s just my little way of helping you with your “final senior thesis paper on understanding homelessness on the most extensive level”.What is going to be very interesting for me is to see how the non-sociologist posts negative statements about me and statements that answer the question preceding it. I already know the question the sociologist will ask…
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