Social Work: One Job to Change Many

Some girls dream of becoming president, being a princess, or becoming a mother;
But as I grew up I knew I had something bigger in mind.
As I go to school, as I attain an education so many women before me were denied, my mind is set on one thing…
One job,
One goal:
Become a social worker.
*record ripping sound effect*
What the hell is a social worker? What can you do with that degree? Oh, so you weren’t good at math or science? Why do you want to do that? You won’t make it. You’ll burn out. That’s a tough job.
You wouldn’t believe the things people say to you when you tell them you’re a social work major.
Social Work. Social. Work. You’d think that’d be a pretty basic concept for people to understand.
Social (adj): needing to live in a community rather than alone.
Work (n): physical or mental effort directed toward a goal.
I want work with people experiences problems adapting or functioning in their community.
And you’d think I’d be applauded for aspiring to do something so self-less…
I’ve literally had people laugh in my face and ask me why I would ever want to do that job…
And because I’m a little too polite and non-confrontational, I’ve never told them why… until now:
I love people, and I firmly believe that all people are inherently good.
You can throw as many Adolf Hitlers and terroist acts in my fact to try and prove that some people are bad, but I don’t buy it.
People are not created and raised in a vacuum. People do not exist in space, where nothing touches them or affects them in any way. People are a product of their environment.
People are both their inherent selves and their environmental selves. Anyone to say it’s one or the other is out of touch with reality and too close-minded to see the truth.
People are good. But people are flawed. There’s no one that is perfect, despite what media and photoshop experts try to tell us. But it’s okay to be flawed. It’s possible to be both good and flawed.
So, as a social worker, I want to remind people of their goodness – to help them see the good within themselves, even when people call them monsters, even when they don’t see it within themselves.
I want to be a good social worker.
I want to be good, do good, and spread that goodness to every person I can reach.


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