I sometimes struggle because I forget that everyone is not me… I was, and still am the girl who wouldn’t dream of trying to get in trouble, doing less than my best, or of pushing the limits as far as rules go…I am a people pleaser, I want to do things the right way and live up to other people’s expectations of me, and to live up to my expectations for myself.
Expectations and goals drive us, but I think we can have too high, or too many expectations for ourselves, or for others, expectations that can’t be lived up to causing frustrations and problems.
I know that not everyone is like me, but I still find myself placing those expectations on the children I work with, whether here in Ghana, or in the United States. For myself, I would not have considered anything other than going to college and getting a degree after high school, and I sometimes get in my head that that is better or superior to any other route people might take in life.
But God can be glorified through a person who sells things on the street and loves him every bit as much as he can be through a university graduate. I am here to help teach these kids, to be an example for them, and to motivate them to do all they can with their lives, but who am I to say what would be best for them to do. I still have high hopes and expectations for the kids in my classes, and all of the kids at the home, but they are changing a little, and I’m seeing how great even the small strides and steps really are.
On a totally unrelated note I went to the local hospital in Nsawam at about midnight the other day with Comfort… quite the experience. Let’s just say things like patient confidentiality aren’t really an issue here at least outside of Accra. It was “interesting” to watch the doctor working to treat a rather inebriated burn victim in the hall while talking to five year old Comfort and trying to figure out what was wrong with her.
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