Listen to thisA month that includes the coming of Summer (Solstice), National Donut Day, innumerable graduations, weddings and anniversaries, Juneteenth, World Sauntering Day and …
Father’s Day!
Ever since I became a father too many years ago (I am a father of three and now a “Grandy” of one), I have struggled with the concept of Father’s Day.
To me, it was much like having a “Happy Lottery Winner’s Day”!
Having the true privilege of being a parent has been one of the greatest “gifts” or honours that I could ever imagine receiving. A responsibility which has always humbled, inspired, and scared the ever-living crap out of me!
Every year, I extend to each of my children a heart- felt apology for getting it so very wrong so very many times and an offer to” give them their money back”.
I feel similarly about CYC Week, which this year was May 6 to 12.
Each year in early May, Child and Youth Care (CYC) Practitioners / Workers around the world are reminded and encouraged to do something special to celebrate our noble Calling / Profession.
Let me be clear! I am a proud CYC! Have been for almost 50 years! And I am a CYC who believes, as Thom Garfat so frequently, eloquently, and passionately insists, ”CYC is not what We do. It is who We are”! I believe we are given the privilege of working with amazing young people who for so many reasons have often been traumatized, marginalized, disenfranchised, abandoned, scapegoated, and/or discarded by society. “Let’s build homes for them … just not on MY block”!
“It is not what We do. It is who We are!”
I have followed one credo throughout my journey as a CYC. “Surround yourself with people who excel at doing what you want to do … and do what they do.” And I knew from an early age that I wanted to do Child and Youth Care. I had no idea what “Being” one would entail until those I began surrounding myself with began to teach me.
And by actively seeking out those people … well … some would say stalking … I have come to learn that they all share the same way of being in the world. This Relational Way.
I have also worked with many colleagues who think differently. Who see this work as a job. Who put in their hours, do their shift, apply their skills and go home. Most of these colleagues were and/or are good people and competent workers. And I thank them all for their important work. But it WAS … however ... ”What they DID, not who they WERE”.
I didn’t want to DO THAT… I wanted to BE what these “Other” CYC’s were.
So …
I started doing what they did. And my world changed.
I attended workshops and conferences they attended, taking every opportunity to hang out with them. I volunteered for committees and boards they sat on. I joined associations of which they were members. I read books and articles they wrote.
And bit by bit, month by month, year by year, they taught me a new way of being in the world. Child and Youth care to them and now to “us”, was and is so much more than just doing a job.
It has been said that true CYC’s can find each other in a crowded dark room without saying a word to each other. I am not sure I believed it ... until I found them.
“It is not what We do, it is who We are.”
So, for those for whom CYC is “just a job”, one week a year to celebrate what they do is likely enough. A time to feel appreciated and remind them to take the time to celebrate this awesome work they do. And that is wonderful!
To me, CYC week is like Father’s Day. A call to attention of a privilege and an honour I get to live out every week.
To me, every week is CYC week
To me, every week starts with a thought of thanks and thoughts of what can I do this week to honour this privilege I have.
To me, every week starts with a question about who can I “surround myself’ with and how. And how to honour and thank them.
To me, every week starts with finding a journal and/or article I can read, or re-read.
To me, every week starts with my first of many visits to CYC-Net.
And to me, every week is one more week to confirm that “It is not what I do, it is who I am”.
It, like most privileges and honours, carries great responsibility. A responsibility that has always humbled, inspired, and scared the ever-living crap out of me.
I wouldn’t have it any other way. Otherwise, it would not be … who I am.
