Once again I am in trouble . . .

Here is where most of my problems lie, I have decided to forgive someone and still be friends with them and others cannot understand that.  Do you have a right to be mad at a friend for forgiving someone else?  Shouldn't you be the slightest bit grateful that one day you may make a mistake and be given the same amount of forgiveness?

That's what I am thinking.

Someone did me and TB wrong.  It stemmed from a fundamental character difference in the two of us.  It is not something that this person is actually even fully aware of, either because of that exact difference in viewpoint.  We understand and we accept that this person may see things differently than we do.  We altered our relationship so that the same things won't happen again, but we continue to be friends with this person. 

Now however, others are pretty mad at me for being nice to this person, that is something that I just don't understand.

So again, should you be mad at someone for forgiving someone else?  That just seems silly.

Compassion cannot be found in isolation

If you raise your child to only listen to Christian music, attend only Christian schools, hang out only with Christians and do only Christian things-when do you teach them compassion?  How do they learn understanding, acceptance and forgiveness?

Is it on a mission trip to some far distant land, where the distinctions between us and them are clear and concise?  Is it by feeding the homeless where again it's pretty easy to see that "they" are hurting?

And even scarier, what happens when these children are all grown up and make some mistakes?  Will this faith based on compassion for only those that are way different be enough to get them through it?  After all, their mistakes might not actually take them into the far reaches of central and south America or make them homeless in Detroit.  

What happens when the child grows up and for a moment becomes one of those other people that we don't talk about?  Will their faith be strong enough to bring them back?

Can you be a Social Worker and a Christian?

A while back when I was interviewing for my second year placement it was brought up that I was a Christian.  The woman interviewing me took the conversation "off the record" and asked me what I thought about working in the secular world while being a Christian.  I told her it was frustrating when I was at church and she couldn't agree with me more.  We talked about the awkward stares and downright judgemental comments that we receive when we speak about what we do to good christian folk.  The "how can you work with THOSE people" and "oh that must be HARD" and "THOSE PEOPLE just don't get it" kind of comments that constantly make my heart sink.  

On the other hand, in the few cases that clients have found out about it, they are usually happy and even go so far as say that this was the first time a Christian treated them decently.  Most of the time it's the "spiritual but not religious" folks that have been burned by well intentioned Christians for far too long.

We also both agreed in the end, that no matter what other Christians may think, we wouldn't be anywhere else, that we love our clients and that the key values and ethical standards that drive us as social workers are VERY christian indeed.

So for those of you that have not had a chance to check out the NASW Code of Ethics.

Here's a peak at some of my favorites and you tell me what you think . . . . . . call me crazy but I think the biggest hang up is on the whole non-judgemental theory and allowing the client to ultimately make their own choices in life.  Being there without being in control is really hard to do.