Even Geology is Better!!! (Erin Paul, H1 Group 4)

Even Geology is Better!!!

By: Erin Paul

H1, Group 4

            As many of you know, I am an intern at a low-income housing community called Wherry Housing. I live and work in this community and it is the best place I know. It’s a very diverse neighborhood. We have refugees from Burma and Thailand, Hispanics, African Americans, whites and more. One of the main things I do at Wherry is the after school program, which is a time for all the kids of the community to come together after school and get help with their homework, play, learn Bible stories, and eat snacks. This is what I look forward to every day! These kids mean absolutely everything to me and they never fail to put a smile on my face and provide me with a good laugh.

            So the other day I was helping a little boy with his homework at the after school program. His name is Noah and he is nine years old. He was doing a worksheet on alphabetical order. He was given a list of words and was supposed to look them up in the dictionary and find the sight words, which are the words on the top of the dictionary page that make it easier to find your word when flipping through the dictionary. One of his words was pilgrim, so as he flipped through the pages, I heard him exclaim, “PHILOSOPHY?!?!?!” I was amused by his reaction to the answer of the first sight word for pilgrim. Chuckling, I asked him if he knew what philosophy was. “Duh,” re replied, “it’s the study of life.” I was pretty surprised by his response, thinking he had no idea what it meant. As I told him that I was taking a philosophy class right now, a look of disgust appeared on his face, adding to his odd reaction. “What’s so bad about philosophy?” I asked Noah. “I don’t know. It’s just weird. Even geology is better!!” I couldn’t help but laugh, and I laughed even harder when I asked him what geology was and he had absolutely no idea. As I was laughing, I thought of an idea for my midterm.

            My midterm post is going to include interviews with my kiddos about some different philosophical ideas and some of the topics we have covered thus far in class. I think it will be really fun to get into the mind of these kids and see the differences between how they view the world and how we do. I have noticed on many blog posts/comments and even during our discussions in class, we reference how kids think and how we sometimes wish everyone saw through the “glasses” of children. So I have decided to try on those glasses and share with y’all what I see.

            But before I share the interviews, I want to touch on how my philosophical views have changed and formed since becoming involved at Wherry Housing. Probably my favorite topic that we have discussed so far is the big issue of cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, minority rights, and tolerance. When talking about these things in my group, I referenced the people at Wherry often. I believe from living and working in such a unique, diverse place, I now consider myself a cosmopolitan in the eyes of Kwame Anthony Appiah. He defines a cosmopolitan as someone who recognizes that people across societies have much in common, while also being tolerant of their differences. The idea that we are all human beings is displayed to me daily when I see kids of all ethnicities playing together, not even noticing a difference in their appearance However, I also see so many differences between cultures. For example, the Asians in my neighborhood practically live at my house. I have been to Thailand before and it is definitely what you consider a “hot climate” culture, meaning very people oriented. They are always surrounded by other people and don’t value the idea of privacy, like most Americans do. When I go to their houses, they are always making me feel so welcome: feeding me, giving me gifts, and wanting me to stay forever. I absolutely love that about them!

We talked a lot about whether or not we should step in and interfere with these differences. Many of us agreed we should step in when the situation is harmful. I have seen an example of that among the Karen people at Wherry, which are the refugees from Burma. I am probably going to reference them a lot because they make up the majority of our neighborhood and are the most different from what we are used to. Before coming to America, the families lived in refugee camps in Thailand after they escaped Burma. There is terrible violence in Burma between the Burmese government and the Karen people. So that is what they are used to. Well, we began noticing signs of child abuse among our Karen kids. After getting to know their families better, we realized that child abuse is very common in their home, but they do not see it as abuse. That’s just what they are used to. This is a situation we believed it was essential to step in because there could be awful consequences for the parents if the police and child services were to get involved. We had to explain to the families that that kind of behavior is not acceptable in the States. We did that not because we didn’t tolerate their differences but because we love them and wanted to protect them.

Another topic that we thoroughly discussed was immigration and the rights of these people once they get here. From working with immigrants on a daily basis, my heart transformed. Now, I don’t know for sure if all the immigrant families in my neighborhood are legal, but I do know that they probably wouldn’t be alive if they weren’t here right now. Instead of just making judgments like I used to, I now put myself into other people’s shoes. I do believe that our immigration laws should be enforced but I also believe that the process immigrants go through to get to America and then become citizens is entirely too complex and lengthy. I also think that when people do come here legally from other countries, they should receive extra help. I have seen first hand how difficult the transition is for families. They don’t have jobs, they can’t speak the language, and they don’t have a lot of people to turn to for assistance. They are in a brand new place that is completely foreign to what they are used to. Money and language/culture training can make the transition easier and can guide the way to their independence. It is important that the family knows this help is not permanent so they will not become dependent on it. What makes me angry about this whole thing is when people make ignorant and rude comments about these immigrants. Most of us have no idea just how blessed we are to have grown up in America. We have never had to go through the atrocities that many other countries endure on a daily basis. And we’re going to get frustrated when they can’t speak English perfectly after a year of being here? Have we ever had to learn a completely new language, while under the stress of trying to start a new life in a new place? No! So we shouldn’t pretend like we could do it so much better and judge these people before even getting to know them.

Now that I have discussed a little bit how these beautiful people of Wherry Housing have shaped some of my philosophical ideas, I’m going to introduce y’all to some of my kids and their ideas on some of the topics from class. My interviews were based off of 5 questions.

1.     What things make you go yuck?

2.     Do you think people that play sports should be able to take drugs to make themselves better?

3.     How do you pick who is your friend?

4.     Where does your happiness come from?

5.     Wherry is full of all kind of people: Asians, Hispanics, blacks, whites. Do you like living with all those people?

The first person I interviewed was a little Karen girl named Cherry. I interviewed her on her 7^th birthday.

-       What things make you go yuck? “Salad. It makes me sick. It’s poisonous for me. And birds. I’ve seen my dad shoot them before.”

When discussing Julian Savulescu’s idea of ‘Yuk!’ we talked about the different reason we have those reactions. Some of the things we came up with is bad experience, parents think that way, moral/religious, simply used to it, or a rational/logical reason.

-       Do you think people who play sports should be able to take drugs to make themselves better? “No, it makes their belly hurt.” Oh to be 7 again!

-       How do you pick who is your friend? “If they’re nice to me and funny.”

-       Where does your happiness come from? “Birthday.” Haha, I have a feeling that was because it was her birthday that day.

Paw, 10, Karen girl

1. Yuck – “When people say gross stuff. When people throw up it makes me throw up.”

            2. Sports – “No, they will get drunk and won’t know how to play.” I love kids!!!

            3. Friends – “See if they are nice and kind to people.”

4. Happiness – “God, praying, family, friends. Sometimes, I am sad but my heart is still happy.” Love that!

5. Diversity – “I don’t like when black people hurt my family. I like living with them but I don’t like when they’re mean. White people make me happy when they play at my house.” 

Recently, there was a lot of violence between the teenagers in our neighborhood, and it was all between black boys and Karen boys. There was a gang of black boys that don’t live at Wherry but would come at night and beat up a lot of the Karen guys. This is what Paw was referring to. It’s gotten better though!

Kyo, 9, Karen boy – lived in America less than a year

            1.Yuck – “Tomatoes. They’re disgusting.”

            2. Sports – “Yes, I wanna watch good sports.”

            3. Friends – “Nice to everybody. You are my friend, Erin.”

            4. Happiness – “When I make 100 on a test.”

Ruth, 8, Hispanic girl

            1. Yuck – “Spiders because they eat flies and put food in bubbles. And throw up.”            

Not really sure where she got her spider facts haha.

            3. Friends – “Girls. Nice and not annoying.”

4. Happiness – “When I don’t get enough sleep. That’s all I got.” This one made me laugh! She was set on it though!

5. Diversity – “Kinda, I think I would rather live with just Hispanics.”

Mumu, age 9, Karen girl

1.     Yuck - “Tomatoes and broccoli. Really disgusting! Snakes. Creepy and scary! Seen one before. And farting, of course.”

3.  Friends – “They don’t lie. Nice. Honest. Play with me. Come to my house.”

4. Happiness – “Heart and imagination. God makes me happy. Friends and family.”

5. Diversity – “I like it because friends should be all kinds of people.”

(Olivia, Mumu, and Ruth)

                                  Olivia, 10, white girl

            1. Yuck – “Someone digging in their nose and eating it.

            2. Sports – “No, they would become weak and sick.”

3. Friends – “If they’re a good person. They don’t steal or get in fights and they’re not a bully.”

4. Happiness – “Lots of things. Curiosity. I read that in a book. Being treated in a good way.”

5. Diversity – “Yes. We’re all the same kind of people. It’s the same as hanging out with white people.” Appiah would be proud!

Taw and Day Day, 9, Karen boys

            1. Yuck – “Throw up and poop. It smells bad.”

2. Sports – “No, it can affect their life. If they play for a long time they will get tired faster. Like steroids.

3. Friends – “The way they act. If they’re nice.”

4. Happiness – “God.”

5. Diversity – “Yes, as long as I know who they are.”

I hope you all enjoyed looking seeing what philosophy looks like through the glasses of my fun kiddos!

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