A End of January Update

This is not really an update, but more of a post about the novel that I finished and just thoughts and musings.

I finally finished the young adult novel Borderless by Jennifer De Leon that I have discussed in the previous two posts. I am not sure why it took me so long to finish it but partly because of the topic and I knew it was going to be painful, sad, and quite emotional. This book was about Guatemala (where I had the chance to visit for six weeks in the summer of 2005 - so almost 20 years ago now!), why people risks everything to try to reach the US, and the painful realities of how things are at the border. I have found that as of December 2023, border patrol cannot legally separate families (parents from their children), but there are still detention centers where people seeking asylum or safetey in the US are still treated as less than humans and it is truly shameful!

I remember back a few years ago when these detention centers and the policy of separating children from their parents was all over the news and I got emotional in a summer class with Colombian professors for probably what appeared to be out of nowhere. I had to explain the next day or something what was going on. That summer we also made a small donation to RAICES.

This also makes me think of when I was in college and got my Bachelor's in Social Work, one of my dreams was to get a job in the southwest like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California close to the border and work in an organization that helped support immigrants and their families and I would get to use my Spanish every day. I thought that I would practically immerse myself in a different culture while still living in the US and helping people but with the mild naive understanding of a young twenty something that my life would be a humble and not a lavish one by any means, but one that would be fulfilling and would be making a difference.

It is hard to believe that it is nearing twenty years now since I graduated from college. I truly believe that choosing to major in social work changed my life. It opened my eyes to completely new perspectives, experiences, and seeing that there was so much outside of my rather sheltered and well-to-do life that I had up to that point that I am forever grateful for those experiences and knowledge. Social work opened my eyes to so many things like about minority and marganalized groups that I had had little experience with up to that point that has helped broaden my own perspective of the world.

Although looking back at my college years and even at the time of graduation when I was twenty-two, I was still very naive, innocent, and immature in a lot of ways. Don't get me wrong, I lived a little in college and had some life experiences, but of course looking back, a lot of it makes me feel embarrassed and foolish about certain things I did or decisions I made.

As you know from this blog, obviously my life went a different way and took a lot of different turns than my twenty-two year old self would have ever imagined, but still truth be told, social work has never really left me. I still use a lot of the skills and knowledge I learned from my degree in my life and as you know I do answer the line for the 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is also using this knowledge and these skills.

So, I don't have any regrets about how life has turned out and will continue to think about how I can use what I learned from social work to advocate, help, and try to make a difference where I can!