It kills me. I teach these kids whose parents let them play violent video games for hours on end every night when they need to be reading to them, talking with them and playing with them. They want these boys to be normal and productive members of society and they stick them in front of the TV set with games like Halo and Doom and guns and guns and guns…. Then they send them to me for 6 or so hours a day and get frustrated when we can’t work friggin miracles and make them care about school or learning.
I really have an intense hatred for video games now especially that I have my own kids. My own son, the first thing he asks me about when I get home is, “Can we play LEGO Star Wars??” Granted, it is a cool game, but he is more interested in that than he is me or anyone else in the house. That just seems kind of ominous to me but maybe I am an over-reacting old fart now.
I sat with one of the kids I teach who shall remain nameless and we figured out that he does (on the average) 18 hours of video gaming per week! That just freaks me out. I think that all kids on the Autism spectrum should be video game free and I will urge my co-workers to make that a huge part of our contract with our parents next year. It seems like pissing in the wind to work with a kid who spends all that time stimming himself in front of a cathode ray tube.
I’m one to talk though. Many nights will find me lying in bed in another room from the rest of my family watching The Big Lebowski for the 50th time or so. I guess that’s no different from some kid playing Grand Theft Auto over and over with the infinite life cheat code. Jeff Bridges is a hell of a lot more funny, though, and there are some interesting metaphysics and theology somewhere in The Big Lebowski, I think. (That’s for another BLOG though, cause I am tired now from all the cooking, yelling and other reasonable activity I got to take part in today).
peace
Monday, February 27, 2006
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Be Who We Are
I work at a school called The Community School , a school for kids who, at one time or another, have been diagnosed with Ausperger's syndrome or other Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism is a growing diagnosis among children in this country. (Is it because we know it better or is it the diagnosis dujour, a la childhood bipolar disorder?? Who knows??) Anyway, two of our older boys go to a homeless community center Crossroads, sponsored by St Lukes Episcopal Church every Thursday to run the mailroom.
The Guys have integrated themselves into the work of Crossroads Community Center. They are fully capable of running the mailroom on their own and frequently are taking over. Many times while we are there I have to step around the mailroom desk to help clients activate Food Stamp cards, fill out forms or find more help from another staff member. I have been quite proud of their ability to take our work there very seriously and they are extremely kind and patient with the guests of Crossroads, many of whom are in the throes of serious poverty, stress, mental illness or drug addiction. Homelessness, they are learning, is not just about "those people," it is about people who are human beings just like them.
People wonder what exactly we do at Crossroads and wonder what the big deal is about people getting mail. It often doesn't dawn on most people that homeless folks can have big problems over things that seem inconsequential to us. Many people simply need a mailing address so they can get things like Social Security Cards and birth certificates so they can get state-issued ID and get jobs. Many people suffering from mental illness or disability simply need an address so they can get Social Security checks so they can eat and pay for shelter.
Crossroads has been a crossroad of sorts for The Guys because they are getting to see themselves for who they really are- competent, caring people- people who other people want to be around and appreciate. It occured to me today for the first time that they, like many kids who have Autism-Spectrum challenges, have spent much of their time in education settings feeling marginalized and unwanted by the people around them. As I watched both of them interacting with clients and solving problems, it hit me like a ton of bricks that maybe at some point they believed those voices that sought to push them out or told them, through action or words, that they were not wanted. Here they were, I saw, giving their time and energy to help a group of people that society does not want or does not choose to deal with in a very healthy way. Here they were showing "those people"- the homeless- that somebody cared. At Crossroads no one sees them as anything but two nice young men who are giving their time to help. They see them as kind and intelligent and capable. They see them as who they really are.
This all fits in to my conception of God and Original Sin as well. I have to believe that God sees us who we really are and NOT as "miserable sinners" as the old prayer book would have us believe. He is constantly reminding us that we are good and wanted. God invades our being constantly and wants to be a part of us in a desparate way. We, on the other hand, deny who we really are and believe what we hear- that our self worth depends on things that are transitory and unimportant- social status, wealth, etc. Like my boys at school, if we can work to surround ourselves with people who see us as God sees us as much as possible (ie The Church...??) perhaps we can live out our real identity as Children of God.
The Guys have integrated themselves into the work of Crossroads Community Center. They are fully capable of running the mailroom on their own and frequently are taking over. Many times while we are there I have to step around the mailroom desk to help clients activate Food Stamp cards, fill out forms or find more help from another staff member. I have been quite proud of their ability to take our work there very seriously and they are extremely kind and patient with the guests of Crossroads, many of whom are in the throes of serious poverty, stress, mental illness or drug addiction. Homelessness, they are learning, is not just about "those people," it is about people who are human beings just like them.
People wonder what exactly we do at Crossroads and wonder what the big deal is about people getting mail. It often doesn't dawn on most people that homeless folks can have big problems over things that seem inconsequential to us. Many people simply need a mailing address so they can get things like Social Security Cards and birth certificates so they can get state-issued ID and get jobs. Many people suffering from mental illness or disability simply need an address so they can get Social Security checks so they can eat and pay for shelter.
Crossroads has been a crossroad of sorts for The Guys because they are getting to see themselves for who they really are- competent, caring people- people who other people want to be around and appreciate. It occured to me today for the first time that they, like many kids who have Autism-Spectrum challenges, have spent much of their time in education settings feeling marginalized and unwanted by the people around them. As I watched both of them interacting with clients and solving problems, it hit me like a ton of bricks that maybe at some point they believed those voices that sought to push them out or told them, through action or words, that they were not wanted. Here they were, I saw, giving their time and energy to help a group of people that society does not want or does not choose to deal with in a very healthy way. Here they were showing "those people"- the homeless- that somebody cared. At Crossroads no one sees them as anything but two nice young men who are giving their time to help. They see them as kind and intelligent and capable. They see them as who they really are.
This all fits in to my conception of God and Original Sin as well. I have to believe that God sees us who we really are and NOT as "miserable sinners" as the old prayer book would have us believe. He is constantly reminding us that we are good and wanted. God invades our being constantly and wants to be a part of us in a desparate way. We, on the other hand, deny who we really are and believe what we hear- that our self worth depends on things that are transitory and unimportant- social status, wealth, etc. Like my boys at school, if we can work to surround ourselves with people who see us as God sees us as much as possible (ie The Church...??) perhaps we can live out our real identity as Children of God.
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