So, now I work at a high profile Fertility and Pregnancy Chinese Medicine Clinic as a therapist and it is very much in line with what I love to do and my own philosophies.
But there are already some interesting tales to tell.
Yesterday, after my first day of training, at again, keep in mind, a high profile fertility and pregnancy clinic in the ritzy end of town where folks are paying several thousand on treatment....and here I am, running off at the end of the day to get to try to make my appointment at Planned Parenthood in our Glendale ghetto in time so I can get on the pill. Don't have enough for the appointment so I am awarded $200 worth of services and 3 months of pills for a 'donation' which turned out to be the last $10 I have until Saturday. And there was no point to run, b/c although the clinic where I work thrives on timely schedules, a community service clinic where 40 people are sitting in the waiting room at anyone time works on a whole different concept of time.
Overhear a conversation at work where a woman is complaining about having to take classes prior to adopting a child. Oh my. She thinks it is terrible that they had to sit through a movie on interracial adoption. 'What, are they trying to persuade us against it?' she asks. Apparently, all the children in this movie are saying how upset they are over being adopted by white families. The woman having this conversation is not a malicious person, and she would be a great mom. She is no different than most of us going against our daily routine and not necessarily realizing our prejudices or our inherent belief systems. But, she really doesn't seem to get the idea that, 'yes', interracial adoption IS a big deal and you are going to have to take extra measures to ensure full cultural understanding, etc. etc. It is just so interesting to watch. Another woman pipes in that , 'yeah, i've seen some of the parents out there, and THEY are the ones that need the classes, I can't believe you have to go through classes to adopt.'
oh lord.
it's like, some parts of the world have forgetten what being a parent and a child means and how to go about it.
on the one hand, people are trying to put rules on that really don't apply and on the other hand, it's like some of the most fundamental tenets are being forgotten.
i have a feeling i am really going to enjoy my work.
the anthropologist and women's studies major in me will have a heyday watching and analyzing the interactions;
the mother in me will constantly empathize, get angry and laugh all at the same time she evolves; and the 'healer' in me will see past and through it all to the simple need that each and every one of us has at every and all times, which is to receive love.
still, living in my hispanic ghetto, where my neighbor, Dave, a 50 some year old Mexican guy who works his ass off and was recently diagnosed with colon cancer but told not to bother with treatment b/c he would not be able to work and would just be sick the rest of his days....the same man who comes and introduces himself and tells me to sit down on the wall i'm painting and have a beer with him and come with him someday to his friends' house and pretend i'm his girlfriend just to give them the shock of their life, etc. etc and here where girls are pregnant at 16 and making it all work..........and then traveling for 5-6 hours everyday to a world where women have been in high powered positions with no time for children, suddenly wanting them later, or have been trying all this time, but it has not worked, where interracial relationships are movie matter rather than real life, where the work party will be an all out top-of-the-line vegetarian feast from some of the more expensive food stores in town (as opposed to the big pig roast i was invited to the other day)...where, at the planned parenthood, i still have little grip on spanish but at least know how to smile and find the same kind smiles from everyone around me, laughing as i am drifting off to sleep without realizing it since i was up the night before several times with a 1 year old having nightmares and then on the road to daycare work at 6 a.m.
and you know, i just sit somewhere in the middle thinking both sides are great and both sides have their prejudices and obviously, being a human, i do too.
it's in seeing the discrepancies and similarities that i get my greatest kick.
so, yes, i'm going to love my work.
and, yes, i love where i live.
Comments (1)
Of course, in my blunt opinion, it has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with money, or lack thereof. While the distribution of ethnic groups among the economic classes is, of course, not appropriately uniform, the fundamental life outlooks are entirely driven by wealth vs. poverty, not black vs. white. Race and ethnicity add nuances to outlooks derived primarily due to whether you and your family have had money, stability, security, safety, not just now, but for generations, or not. Of course, talking about this kind of class division in the US is a social taboo.