One Part of a Whole

I work as a program counselor for adults with disabilities at ACR Homes. This work has been a challenge for me in the recent months. I have been screwing up all over the place, it's not to say that I am not trying it's just something that I have never had to deal with and it goes against my very personality. It is a very detailed orientatated job and which I am not a detailed person to say the least. I look more at the bigger picture. Now as I have gone through this job I have been on the verge of being let go for the mistakes that I have made but through that time I had great coworkers and a great boss who kept encouraging me, pushing me to be better. I may not be the best at what I do but because of my coworkers and boss I have become far better than I was when I first got there.

As far as social economic status goes, I have been a part of a middle class family which has really taught me to fend for myself as far as finances go. I was never just given things I have had to earn things. I have also learned to work hard and push forward no matter how difficult it is or how much it hurts. My social economic status has really taught me persistence more than anything in my life. On the other side of the spectrum it also taught me how to depend on others and that it wasn't a bad thing to ask for help when things get out of control.

During my time at my previous school I learned how to row. During this time I had to basically learn a new language such as vocabulary words like gunnel, rigger, bow, stern, port, bow. As well as sayings like weigh enough, hold water, up and over heads, and power 10 or high 10. This language that I learned made us one team, one unit. We all understood it. On that understanding there were different positions in the boat each with the same goal but different duties. The coxswain is the person that steers the boat, constantly critiques a rower's technique, and tries to get the best performance out of the rowers. In this light of what a coxswain's role is, the language that he has to use is harsh at times, loud, confident and knowledgeable. If the coxswain does not speak this way he loses the respect and performance of the rowers. I was a coxswain and know what it is like.

In the Odyssey Odysseus was that main guy, the captain of the voyage. During the voyage Odysseus's job was to captain the boat and like myself needed to have a good staff around him in order to do his job. Without his crew he was unable to achieve his goal such as when the crew tied him on to the mast and doing as he said. One of the things that I am not sure of was how he became to be such a persistent man. I am pretty sure that since he was a captain that his social economic status wasn't the same as me. I am not sure how his social economic status had an affect on his character. Maybe since he was a captain he came from backround that promoted a very goal driven mentality. The language that he used was also similar to that of a coxswain position that I once held. He exibited confidence and knowledge needed to complete his goal. He also pushed his men to get the best of them. He knew what he was talking about and the language that he used was obviously in a language that everyone could understand. This type of language was needed in order for everything to work out.