Allan´s Weblog

A person's job, his career, his bread and butter, is something very important to the individual. Or should be, I might ad.

That's the way it is for me. I am a Social Educator when I am at work, but also when I'm off. Social Education has become an integrated part of my identity. Should I decide to skip my line of work and get a job as a carpenter, I would still be a Social Educator in my heart.

Until now I have written 528 entries in this weblog of mine - and I have talked about Social Education numerous times, but haven't tried to describe my actual everyday work. I think I have chickened out all this time, because I am working with something so complex that there's no way I can describe it in a satisfying way. I will be forced to make violent simplifications.

That's probably the way it is with most in life.

But I cannot delay it any longer, I feel. I have talked about many other important aspects of my life, so there's no way that I can keep on justifying not talking about my work. My everyday with kids, youth, emotions, culture, skills, sorrows, love, alcoholism, mental illness, victories, defeats and everything else held in a human being's life. I feel my line of work holds everything important in human life - and I am confronted with it all every day.

I work at an openly-accessed public community facility for children and youth of all ages. No payment, no membership - a friendly mood and a nice attitude is all we require. Parents can bring their toddlers, older kids and youth can come alone or together with friends. It's possible to hang out, do sports, art, play, climb trees, make food or just tea, make fun, talk to the social educators, learn to play the guitar - well, possibilities are in fact only limited by our combined imaginations and economical means.

The days are filled with fun and laughter, with bullies, with sorrows and joys, with adults trying to set a reasonable standard for the way things are, with preteens suddenly interested in the opposite sex for the first time, teens maybe interested in their own sex with the following confusion and doubt, with troubles at home, difficulties at school - you can finish this lot yourself. No amount of written words is big enough to fully express what's going on in an ordinary day at my job.

That's exactly why I love it so much. There's no way that a day can be predicted. It always turns out very different from what I expected.

The best way to make myself clear on this matter would probably be to choose a focal point. An activity which sort of holds everything we can and want. An activity showing the complexity, the emotions, the personal development and the love and sorrows in everybody's life.

A kid can have a pet at our place. Having a pet means, that you will learn something about responsibility. A pet is different from yourself, therefore you'll have to think beyond your own needs. You'll have to learn to take care of an other creature - a furry little friend that's totally dependent of you. You will feed it, keep it warm, happy and content. You'll have to set your own needs aside for awhile, because you'll feed the animal before you can allow yourself to eat. You'll learn to do the "dirty" work in order to fulfil a small friend's needs.

So on and so forth.



A photographer like myself must supply all these words with a photograph. The above shows a small kid I know holding her new baby-rabbit. You can see the love she expresses - and you can imagine the sorrow she'll feel when this small, furry friend dies one day.

I have no doubt that these children will learn and experience invaluable lessons by dealing with pets. Lessons from which they will benefit throughout their life to come - adult life's many challenges. How to be a good colleague. How to make friends. How to behave in society. How to take care of the lesser privileged fellow citizens.

I have chosen the possibility to have a pet as a focal point - I could have chosen many others. Doing sports, making art - anything, really.

So, ladies and gentlemen - this was my humble attempt to describe something very, very important. This will have to do - but as a fulfilling description it qualifies only as rubbish. I know.

But I hope I have given you a hint. Maybe I have been able to point in the right direction. If not, I am sorry.

To quote old Blue-Eyes: "I did it my way".