Hope even in the worst of times

Hope it keeps people going even when they think they cannot. I want to be that hope. When there is someone in need I want to be able to help them. One way I can be that hope is by being a social worker. I will be able to get a look into people’s lives and decide what is best for them. I can help those in need and figure out what is going on. Being a social worker I can give hope to many different people. Hope is very important to me for I grew up not in the best circumstances. I grew up hopping that a shooting star would answer my prayers. What was my prayer? Well mine was for my mom to give drugs up for us kids and get better. I also wished for my brother to be healed for the drugs she had taken while pregnant had affected his brain. The wish of course never came true and I had to put my hope in something new. I found Jesus to put my trust in and he helped me to be forgiving and loving to others even when they did not deserve it. I know that not everyone is religious, but I do understand the importance of hope. This is why I want to give hope to others and I believe being a social worker can accomplish just that. Dave Pelzer was the boy from A Child Called IT. Dave is an example of why it is important to help others and to look out for those in need. Dave is a boy who was abused by his mom and did not get help for years to come, but through this whole time he had hope. He still is hopeful to this day and with the teachers and social workers help he was able to live to share his story. His story is very said and a great way to explain why being a social worker is one of the best ways to give hope to people. It talks about how Dave would be starved and abused by his mom growing up. In the book says, “She brain washes him, telling him he is a "bad boy" and does not deserve to have things his brother have. Her abuse keeps scaling up constantly to a degree were she breaks his arm. She would later on stab him and expect him to perform his daily chores the next day” (Child Called IT: Novel Summary: Chapter 6: While Father Is Away). He would have lost hope you think, but he never did. The teachers and people around him gave him hope and love. Later when a social worker helps him be taken away he sees more of what people should treat each other like giving him more inspiration. He credits being freed from his mother as to saving his life (child called it by Dave Pelzer). Dave Pelzer often talks about surviving and not giving up. His hope was in his father at first (A Child Called it by Dave Pelzer). When his father was around he would be beat less and taken care of better. The father for a while tried to stop his mom than eventually gave up. The boy was stabbed by the mom when ordered to do dishes while she was drunk and Dave told his dad. His dad did not tell his mom in order to not get him in more trouble, but said you better go do them than. So in the end the social worker was able to give him more hope than his own dad. This is very sad, but also reassuring to know how much good can be done with this job. If social workers are able to help a kid out more than the dad it shows how important they can be. Dave did not always have the social workers around for hope. For a while Dave had to find hope in himself. He made a choice to not give up “Pelzer tells of his resolve to not be defeated” (A Child Called it by Dave Pelzer). Dave was going to keep trying no matter what his mom through at him and never give up in life. Talks about how even when he was being starved he did not give up. He talks of how he would pick the food out of the garbage in the garage until his mother caught him. Than he started picking food out again later when he thought it was safe too. It was not at the time safe too he would find out. She put two week old spoiled meet in it to get him sick she told him she did it on purpose. Did he give up there though no? Since he would not give up she had him bring the garbage to her to inspect so he wrapped food in paper towels and put it in the bottom. She knew somehow he was getting food so she sprinkled the garbage with ammonia (Carrol January 30, 1990). All of this for food from the garbage shows how much he is willing to keep trying. He found hope in the worst of situations. “I remember I made a decision at 8 years old, here I am held over a gas stove, and suddenly I felt excited to realize that if I could feel this, it meant I was still alive,” Pelzer said during a recent telephone interview. “I told myself, ‘I can do this.’ ” (Chamberlain, 2012). So he found the positive part even in the worst being happy to be alive. Hope when is arm was being burned like a piece of meat shows the impact hope can have. All of this made me want to find others like him and help all the more. To show there is someone out there who cares. He is always trying to find a way to get through his different struggles. Developing tricks to deal with the pain. Counting backward from 60, or tell himself things like, “Well, the last 5 minutes sucked, so the next three minutes can’t be as bad” ( Chamberlain, 2012). Which is a copping mechanism to keep going. He made it through all of these things by finding a way to hold on a little longer. Then at one point it paid off. He stayed alive long enough to be free of his mom. When he turned twelve he was taken away and put in foster homes (Chamberlain, 2012). He talks of how the homes where not the best, but better than what ever happened at his moms. He grows up to be the author of the bestselling books in America. Early 50s, he’s received awards from presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush for his books (Chamberlain,2012). Because he lived through this horror he had the experience of meeting these people and many more experiences. In 1996, he carried the coveted Centennial flame for the Olympic Games, 2005 he was honored with the National Jefferson Award, and he’s been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Larry King (Chamberlain, 2012). This is a true testimony of what can happen with some help and hope. I will help people to the best of my abilities if I become a social worker. I will give reason to not give up, and hope for those who need it. To be able to help someone have a better life and end their suffering just by standing up for them is a huge responsibility. Dave Pelzer is a great example of why it needs to be done though. As long as there is people out there like Dave I will not stop standing for what I believe in.

Works cited

"A Child Called It: Novel Summary: Chapter 6: While Father Is Away."Novelguide. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015
"A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer." PopMatters. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
Carroll, Jerry. "The Beaten Path / Author David Pelzer Chronicles a Nightmare Childhood." SFGate. N.p., 30 July 1998. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
Chamberlain, Doni. "Dave Pelzer, International Best-Selling Author of 'A Child Called It' Speaks in Redding Friday (SOLD OUT)." Anewscafecom. ANewsCafe, 26 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.