By Santia Lindor-Blanc (Karuna Devii)
What is the purpose of life? And what is my purpose in life? When I think about human beings in general and doing service, I find it more interesting to be a part of the human services field. This is a service that helps people with their problems in living, self-sufficiency, social care, social control, and rehabilitation. I am a caring, and nurturing person who cares about other people and their well-being. Helping others has always been my passion.I feel like I am making a difference when I succeed in helping someone else feel comfortable in their own skinand feel like they have a happier life.
Many people in our societystruggle with their living situation. These people are in desperate need, but the department of Human Services cannot respond to all their issues. Despite all the difficulties, as a social services worker, I feel very gratefulto be part ofanother person’s life and to be able tohelp that person get out of a difficult situation.
I enjoy it because everyday is a different day for my clients and me. I work in a school setting program, Day Rehabilitation Program for adults, and a group home setting. Some clients are very sweet and some of them are very challenging. This job teaches me a lot of personal skills that makes me stronger in my own life, and to become even more caring.
Social care is the most important part of the human services field. It relates to the assistance with daily living, maintaining independence, social interaction and supporting accommodation for people. This is what I love doing. It is a blessing to help theseindividuals achieve their goals and become independent with their basic needs.
I had a client with severe cerebral palsy. We’ll call her Tara. She was physically disabled, mostly sittingin her electric wheelchair with its front tray. She required cushions on each side of her at all timesin order to hold her head straight. I took her to Boston University every morning and stayed in the classroom with her to help her take notes. Also, I followed her in the cafeteria, and everywhere else, in case she needed my assistance.She was unable to hold a bottle of Ensure by herself, but she could type on her computer perfectly
After 3 months or so, I noticed how much strength she had in her arm; I decided to train her to be independent on her eating skills. One day, I told her, “If you are able to type that fast on your keyboard, and drag it to the tray front of you, you can learn to eat by yourself.” She denied it right away. I realized immediately that Tarahadn’t received the quality of service and therapy that she neededduring her younger years. Her previous services and caregivershad neglected to help her believe that she could be independent in certain areas.
I retrained her to be able to hold a spoon, a fork, and her bottle of Ensure. At first, she refused to do it, but I told her that she needed to try. After a few weeks of trying, she was able to eat by herself, and I didn’t have to bring her to school anymore. She became very independent. I took her out to watch movies, concerts, shopping and many other activities. In two years, Tara had made significant progress, had more confidence to go out with friends, and became very happy. I felt that I had accomplished something good in life.
Tara was a very intelligent young woman, outgoing, and she had a very strong mind. She accepted that she was different and ready for any rejection from society. And then rejections came. Her insurance money was cut, and she could no longer receive special care. Now she had to make her own living. When I took her to job interviews, people would pass by and look back at her. When she met the managers, their body language said it all. After her interviews she always talked to me about these looks she would get. She always passed her phone interviews, but when she had to meet the managers in person, she never got a call back from any of them. She finally got a telemarketing job where she could work at home but that job didn’t pay enough for her to survive and pay for her care, and her parents were not able to help her either. Her parents had no choice at that timebut to send her to a nursing home close to them, where after a short while, she deteriorated and died.
I wasn’t surprised when I got the news of her death because this is the result of our broken system, lack of empathy and the irresponsibility of our government. I am hoping one day, the system can change where everyone can be treated equally and fairly enough regardless of color, race, sex, rich, poor, health challenges and so on. If she had received the help she deserved, my client could have lived longer and enjoyed her life like all human beings should. Such a system is envisioned by Ananda Marga Gurudeva Prabhat RainjanSarker, in the form of PROUT – the Progressive Utilization Theory.
PROUT advocates for the maximum utilization and rational distribution of the physical, mental and spiritual potentialities of humankind, and the guarantee of purchasing power for each individual sufficient for accessing the 5 fundamental necessities of food, clothing, medical care, shelter and education. In a system like this, Tara would have been guaranteed a job which utilized her full intellectual and physical capabilities, and she would have been provided a living wage. In this way, she would live a longer and happier life, and would have been a benefit to society instead of the burden that she ultimately became.
To conclude, I believe the purpose of life is to help other achieve their goals, and to help them be happy in one way or another. Life is so short. I think helping others makes more sense than simply accumulating wealth without doing anything to help the community. I enjoy working with people, especially those who need assistance, and those who are voiceless in our society. This is where Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) comes in effect and I believe it is the time for all Sadviprasor spiritual heroic revolutionariesto speak out about all these inequalities and injustices in this planet. We need to create a system that works for every human being. In order to do that, we need to expand ourconsciences, especiallyforcing our leaders to see and do what is required.
The author is a Yoga Teacher RYT – 200 in the Ananda Marga style, trained by Acarya Dr. Pashupati Steven Landau MD ERYT in the Shiva Dancing School of Yoga. She is also a social worker in Boston Massachusetts in the USA,
awesome !