So I've got a long story to tell.
Right now, I'm going to school for a Master's in Social Work. I still don't know what I want to do with it. I know I want to do clinical counseling. But my focus is unclear. My father died of colon cancer about 6 years ago. And now my brother has cancer. My aunt and my grandfather are (or were, in my grandfather's case before he died of old age) cancer survivors. So I'm strongly considering medical social work.
On the other hand, I've been unemployed for 7 months and only recently found part-time work for when I go back to school. My unemployment just ran out, though I'm relieved to still live with my mother while I finish grad school and work part-time. So I'm frequently astounded by the insensitivity towards the lower class. Despite my setbacks, I'm still relatively lucky. Still, I frequently hear people having opinions about how poor people are only poor because they'd rather collect welfare than work menial jobs. Most of those menial jobs have no benefits, pay minimum wage, and could not possibly support a family. Regardless what I end up doing with social work, I'm probably going to have to work with homeless or lower income peoples.
Then of course, on the other hand, I have a stake in LGBT issues and considered working with homeless youth or even HIV counseling, just to do work for the community.
But I never even considered global social work and advocacy.
Right now, I'm on an online dating site and somebody contacted me and wished to meet. I was under the impression it was a date. Or even a hook-up, though I held to the possibility he really was looking for a date. When I get to outside his apartment, he texts me and says I have to pick him up from around the building. Turns out, he's from mainland China, living with friends who also came for grad school. He doesn't want to be seen going into a guy's car. My immediate thought is, "That's kind of pathetic." And then he later tells me he just wanted to talk, it wasn't a date to him and he wasn't looking for a relationship. Now I'm starting to get angry. But I drove an hour just to meet him so I figured I'd see it through. We spent the afternoon just getting lunch and talking about school and life.
He was sharing with me about how his friends are very conservative and that he had never come out to any of them. He also said that he was only coming to the states for two years just for grad school. After he was done, he was going to go back home to China, where he knows he's pretty much going to have to find a wife and have children with her. And that was why he wasn't looking for a relationship with anyone- because he didn't want to have to lose it when he goes home in two years.
Funny thing is, I was no longer there looking for a potential date. Now I felt more like I was doing counseling. I tried asking what his feelings about that are. And tried to point him to some resources at the school, even if he just went to talk to someone and share his experience. But he says he is too afraid to be seen by his friends.
So now I'm even more confused by what I want to do with my career. I never considered international social work. But now it's like, everywhere I look, I see need.
