Ana Avendano

1/24/17
Intro Reflection
Part 1
Back home in early fall, at that time of evenings when the sun is just about to disappear

and the wind has started to howl a little harder, sometimes my mom will venture outside to join

me on our dusty red porch. Just to tell me to put on a sweater. It could be 70 degrees but shes

still convinced I could catch pneumonia. She says its cold, but Im not cold. She cant know

how I feel. One of the first things I learned in Misericordia is that no matter how much you care

about someone or how much you think you know about what is good for them, you do not know

their struggle from their point of view. I think this is one of the most important things to know

about social justice as a whole, too. You could study an issue for years, but you never really

know inequality unless you experience it from the perspective of those suffering from it. Social

justice is the conversation between academics and experience that I feel this internship has

helped me have.

Having no prior experience with the special needs population, working at Misericordia

has been quite a learning experience for me. One of the main lessons Misericordia has taught me

is that residents are not their challenges. There could be two residents with the exact same metal

mental and physical diagnoses and they will still be completely different in who they are and

how they act. Over the semester, I have gotten to know the residents who work in the gardens

pretty well. I know what to expect from them and what they can and cannot do. I know what

kind of conversations to have with each one and what topics to avoid. For example, one lady is a

proud Bears supporter, so whenever they lose a game it is better to avoid the topic of football

altogether. I, for one, dont understand sports, so I always avoid the topic. One of my goals for
next semester is to try to get outside of my comfort zone and get to know residents outside of the

gardens. I still find it awkward to start conversations with residents I am not familiar with, so I

hope to change that. You can tell so much about a person just by the way they say hi back to you

on the hallway. I also want to continue learning basic sign language so I can understand non-

verbal residents better.

Working at Misericordia has not only helped me understand the residents, but also the

DSPs. Taking care of others, especially people that dont want to be taken care of, is one of the

hardest jobs. Im not only a friend to the residents but I also have to be a friend to the DSPs and

understand their challenges. They are the ones who truly understand who how Misericordia

works and how it could work better. Something that I really appreciate about Sharon, who heads

the gardens, is that she trusts me enough to share her opinion and experiences on everything that

goes on at work. From her frustrations about tour groups of potential volunteers who come in as

if we were an exhibit to higher ups who have no idea how Misericordia functions on a ground

level and rarely visit. Yet, even though they have always treated me like a part of the team, I

know they are always going to see my as an outsider. Im not there every day and my experience

pales in comparison to theirs. However, I see this as an advantage as both DSPs and residents

tend to be more open with me as Im not exactly part of the structure. I appreciate Sharons

frankness with me, as when I first started Tina would try to shield me from residents fighting or

anything that might scare me off. It is hard to find ways to help Misericordia because I am so

unfamiliar with the population they serve. However, another goal I have for next semester it to

have more communication with Tina. I dont want her to think that I am someone who gets

scared off or is uncomfortable with responsibility. I could also bring up some of the issues
Sharon is concerned with, such as how she has to spend her own money to get supplies for the

garden because Misericordias budget system for DSPs is very difficult to navigate.

My last goal for the next semester is to start learning more about the challenges of people

with developmental disabilities in Chicago as a whole. Most of the residents at Misericordia have

families to care for them and have the resources to provide them with Misericordias amazing

care. But what about people who dont have anyone to look after them? I want to know if the

state provides any sort of assistance or opportunities for them. I dont want this internship to end

with me just knowing this from one perspective as a volunteer. Before starting this program, I

was reluctant to accept the internship because I wondered about the possibility of there being

someone with more experience and knowledge who could be a better fit for Misericordia. Maybe

I, being a Political Science major, would be unable to help. However, I realize now that the only

prerequisite for helping others is the will to learn and listen. Sometimes the work I do at

Misericordia reminds me of the reading we did in class about everything wrong with the analogy

of hurling starfish. But then I remind myself that people arent starfish.

Part 2

One of the hardest points this article raised was the question of why we are concerned

with social justice. I like to believe that social justice stems from our own sense of self-

preservation. If I were to ever find myself in that persons situation I would want life to be more

fair to me as well. The article also mentions that we are all affected by social injustice from

having to stay away from dangerous neighborhoods to crime bred by poverty. So by making the

world more just for others it gives us a sense of peace knowing we live in a fairer world. Or

maybe it is hard to believe that people can simply just be kind. A good society to me would be a

society if made up of opportunities for those who try. You should be able to acquire justice for
yourself. In a good society, justice is accessible and as is the freedom to achieve your potential if

you try. I do not believe there should be a cap at the top to mark what is enough, as human greed

is unstoppable, but I believe there should be one at the bottom. Everyones basic needs should be

fulfilled. Yet, there should also be an acknowledgement that basic needs can change with time

and technological developments. For example, for a student in the US the internet is a basic need

in order to have access to equal education. Education and healthcare have become as essential as

food and shelter. Once these are set the community itself will ensure that intangible needs, such

as belonging and love, are met.

It is interesting that the article quoted Aristotle. Aristotle didnt believe that working

class people should have a say in government affairs, he believed that only intelligent aristocrats

should rule. But could rich educated men really know what everyone needs? Would It it be better

than having uneducated and easily- swayed people vote? The problem many social sciences is

that you could never make an experiment that would simulate this and give the answer. For this, I

quote Marcus Aurelius in saying, Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should

be. Be one.

On another note, I appreciated what he had to say about a just economy. Although just

economy is a slight oxymoron because by the nature of liberal trade there are always winners and

losers. This is why when a country has a free market system they need to have a social welfare

system to ensure the losers can get back up and compete. In free market economics, people lose

their jobs as the economy of their country evolves and becomes more competitive in producing

in other industries. The idea is that a social welfare system allows those who lost their jobs to

readjust to the change and get training in a more competitive industry. It is not a question of

socialism versus free market. A society need elements of both to form a more just economy.
 I was also very intrigued by what the article said about the environment. When I was in

High School my Earth Science teacher told us that we shouldnt care about the earth out of

kindness for the environment, but for our own safety. There is really no such thing as hurting the

earth, the planet could take a meteorite and still be fine. Nature changes and adapts but it never

dies. However, as it changes there is no guarantee that it will still be a habitable environment for

humans. I think if more people started viewing environmentalism as not something we do

because we care about the environment but something we need to do for ourselves they would be

a lot more willing to act. The romantization of mother earth and climate change activists as

tree-huggers is the most toxic weapon against climate change awareness by people who do not

realize that just because life is comfortable now, it does not mean this earth cant kill us all at any

given point.

To some extent, I feel out of my depth writing on social justice. This is an immensely

complex issue that I only really started learning about when I came to Loyola, last year. But I

still think that social justice is a conversation that must be had. Through writing, conversations,

presentations, anywhere, everywhere, and always, even if its wrong. I will be the first to admit

that Im young and clueless, but through all the experiences Ive had here I have concluded that

there are 3 qualities to every student, activist, and organizer Ive admired. Those are: Tthe

capacity to see your loved ones in others, the willingness to take responsibility for problems not

of your own, and the open-mindedness to learn from everyone and the audacity to question it all.

Right now, I believe my place in the community is to learn from people with these qualities so

that I can become an asset to the community. Inequality and injustice should always be learned

about from the people experiencing it.

Depth of reflection: 27/30

Response to part 1 prompt: 30/30

Response to part 2 prompt: 30/30

Writing quality: 8/10

Total: 95/100