A couple of months ago I received an email from Strive Indy
forwarded by Kat Toebes. Strive Indy is a volunteer organization that provides
jobs, training, financial assistance, case management and therapy for ex-felons
and adults with criminal histories residing in Marion County. They were looking
for life coaches and somehow the email found it's way to me through the
ArtReach department. I'm insanely busy, but I decided what the heck? I replied
and pretty soon I was contacted by Kirsten Bush to come in, do a brief training
session, and fill out some forms. That's how easy it was to become a life
coach.
Kirsten started off the training session by showing me this
interesting 60 Minutes story about juvenile delinquent elephants released from
wild life parks in Africa (I posted a link to it below). These were adolescent
elephants who grew up in human care without role models. Once released, these
elephants created mayhem. They began attacking and killing white rhinos just
for the fun of it. Federal wildlife officals came up with a number of ways to
correct this and even literally brought in mature elephants to show them the
right and wrong way to behave. Sadly, some of the elephants could not change
the error of their ways and had to be put down.
This lead us into a discussion about how a person can easily go
off track and not have any idea how to fix it on their own. Sometimes all you
need is someone to talk to about life, and that's what I intend to be for
whoever I'm matched with. Once you receive a match you just basically get
together once in a while to talk. You could get coffee, shoot hoops or play
chess or something. The time commitment is very small. More people should be
doing this . . .
It was about two weeks before I received a phone call from Kirsten
saying she had a potential match for me. I came in and we met face to face. I
would never divulge any information about my match's private life of course,
but suffice to say he's a good guy who's had a lot of hard luck. Sure some of
that is his own doing, but he acknowleges that. He's clean and sober and he
really wants to make the necessary changes. He told me, "It's the fourth
quarter and I've got five fouls." As he was talking about his troubles I
couldn't help thinking to myself what the hell am I doing here? I'm the one who
could use the life coach! But I just sat and listened to his
story. It was as if he got to remove a lead vest for about an hour.
As the meeting came to a close he told Kirsten that he approved of
me and would see me again. If only my dating life went this smoothly! He said
he'd be in touch, and I gave him a hug. He was pleasantly surprised by this
gesture. I think it showed him that he's not alone and that there is somebody
who truly cares. If I should ever leave the teaching profession I think I would
explore the idea of making a career in counseling. I was filled with a positive
feeling, which continued throughout the day and it inspired me to write this
poem . . .
I Care
Out across the vast open space in the distance
You take a look at your wretched life and it's twisted
And you kick yourself in the butt
And you try to keep up
And you tried to find help
But you haven't had luck
I know man, I've been dealt the same bad hand
And I can honestly say, I understand
I understand a whole lot and I care
You may not think there's anyone for you, but I'm there.
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