You Are Part of a Story

I believe that placing oneself as a character in an ongoing narrative is one of the main ways that I deal with pain. Right now, I feel like I am a prime example of someone who is "suffering for" something that I hope will ultimately be rewarding and "worth" the pain later on in my personal narrative. For me, the pursuit of a Master's degree in Social Welfare has been extremely painful. I have been placed in multiple agencies where I have observed the majority of those with power using it to belittle, abuse and/or ignore clients who enter their agency in search of "help." In this pursuit, the pain seems to go on for a very long time, and my faith in an ultimate "good" outcome has become shaky at best. But I tell myself that after tens of thousands of dollars and years of work in the field of social services-that I will endure-because it will afford me the opportunity to make more money for my family, and because with the degree perhaps I will have some power to "do more good" with some of the clients I encounter. I continue to endure the endless anxiety and frustration that comes with dealing with a grossly bureaucratic system day after day. It almost seems to me sometimes that it is pain that makes the world run. Without pain, or the threat of pain somewhere down the line, the tasks we are required to complete each day would seem pointless and absurd.