Taylor Hebert, SL Blog Post 2

            In my service learning so far, I have already garnered more wonderful anecdotes than I would have anticipated for the whole experience. My expectations of the placement were quite accurate. I knew that I wouldn’t have any intense revelations about service or social justice. Instead I anticipated many casual yet informative conversations about people’s lives and their experiences; which I have found to be just as or more important as learning opportunities. The tasks that I am assigned are seemingly menial, sorting, polishing, organizing, but while I do them I get to have these great conversations. The one thing that I realized about my role was that the people I was working alongside are residents and enrolled in treatment right now. I thought perhaps the staff and volunteers at Bridge House were alumni of the program or other volunteers like myself, but no. The people who work all aspects of the store are in treatment right now, and in various stages, or they are convicted felons working off community service hours. My supervisor, is an alumnus, and rightfully boasts how he is two years clean. One woman I met had just entered the week before, and was complaining about a withdrawal headache to another worker.

            That being said, people presumed that I was also “new” in the program, and dealing with an addiction myself. I had to admit, somewhat awkwardly that I was a service-learning student attending a private university. Though I always feel strange, people generally treat me well, if not very well because they know that I am just there to help, and that I am willing to do the tasks that no one else wants to do, like sorting hangers. The funniest moment like this was when a customer came up to me and started giving me the “light at the end of the tunnel” speech—saying how if he could conquer addiction, I could too, because I was young. Then he just walked away and I didn’t get a chance to say anything other than “thank you.”

            One personality I encountered, who shall remain nameless, is in the final stages of her treatment. We talked for several hours about her time spent in Bridge House, and she talked about her driving force behind recovering from alcoholism and drug abuse is her daughter, who at the moment is a ward of the state. Before coming to Bridge House, she was hospitalized for third degree burns all over her arm from when the father of her child tried to set her house on fire, and she was trying to save baby pictures. She is in the process of interviewing for jobs and getting her resume together. Talking about her recovery process, she was confident that she will get her life together the first time around, and how she’s seen many people go in and out of treatment because they are only responsible for themselves. But this woman described that her motivating force in to see her daughter’s face again. I can relate her experience to the character of Egeon in The Comedy of Errors, who risks hell and high water to find his long lost sons. The state had separated them and the chances are against them, but I believe that Egeon was not half as passionate to reconstruct his family as this woman at Bridge House is. And for that reason, I have no doubt that this woman will be at least successful as Egeon was. Unfortunately though, life is not that serendipitous, and alcoholism and drug addiction are diseases. And for that reason, I thank God that a place like Bridge House exists.