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C&T Intergenerations Program at the Ring House

我对Ring House义工活动意义的认识

11/26/2015

1 Comment

 
​众所周知,美国有着比较完善的义工制度----每个学生如果想毕业,就要当至少45小时的义工.  这种制度在与中国的 “学雷锋”式的形式主义制度相比体现出巨大优势的同时,也容易使得学生走入两个误区----- “数据化”和 “功利化”. 为了避开这两个误区,我不妨从 “意义”这个角度来说说我对Ring House老年公寓义工活动的感受.
 
  “意义”在这里有两方面. 一方面是你在义工活动中学到了什么. 义工的目的不仅仅是培养学生 “乐于助人”的精神,更重要的是它是学生将来步入社会的基础. 通过志愿活动,学生开始积累一定的生活经验,而且很有可能因此发现自己的长处和兴趣,从而进一步开始规划将来的职业. 我在这一活动中学到的不仅是如何与年逾古稀的老人沟通,还有他们的生活态度. 我们的任务是教老人如何使用图书馆里的电子设备。在与他们交流的时候不但要考虑到他们的听力和记忆力问题, 还要考虑到他们是否能做到在我们看来易如反掌的事情。比如说有一位老人想要进入一个老年人用品的网站,但她进入的却是手机软件的广告,便问我怎么回事。我一看网址,顿时明白了,原来网址后面有 “app”字眼。我告诉她,用后退键把“com”后面的字母删除掉就行了,很简单。她笑了,说:“对于你来说是很简单。”我连忙把这个网站摆到最显眼的书签栏里。这件事微不足道,却给我提了个醒:这些老人一生中几乎没有接触过这些高科技产品。即使我们帮了他们一次,他们以后面对同样的问题时可能还会束手无策。所以我们不仅要帮他们解决问题,还要考虑到如何让他们在以后没有人帮忙的时候,对电子设备运用自如。这就是我之前提到的经验的积累。这些经验一旦形成一种思考方式,我们考虑事情时自然而然地就会学会将心比心,而且更加注重长久的利益,与人沟通就更有耐心。他们的生活方式同样也值得我们学习。这些老人有着极其丰富的人生经历、知识和智慧。他们知道如何合理应用这些高科技产品,让它们成为自己学习的工具。我看到的老人使用电脑的目的,几乎不是欣赏戏剧,就是访问在线博物馆,或者是浏览重大新闻。有一位老人给我印象非常深。这位老人已经快九十八岁了,他仍然想学习如何使用ipad。尽管他对于相关的知识几乎一无所知,但经过不懈努力,他还是学会了一些基本的操作方法。用一句耳熟能详的谚语来总结这些老人的生活态度,那就是“活到老,学到老”。他们另一种乐观的生活态度也令我感触颇。上周我在做义工时,突然看见大厅外救护车闪烁的灯光。我赶紧把窗帘拉上,以免让其他老人有太大的心理压力,随后我赶紧问老年公寓的管理员怎么回事。管理员说,这种事对于我们来说很平常,有些时候老人觉得不大舒服,就请别人来检查一下身体,有些时候他们就与世长辞,一觉不醒了。我听到这句话的时候很震惊,他们看淡生死,但却格外尊重生命。或者说因为他们尊重生命,所以才不把生死看得过重,更加珍惜老年时光。我虽然并没有到考虑生死的年龄,但这位老人的一番话还是令我感慨万千。
    意义的另一方面是你的所作所为是否真正帮助了老人。“义工”这两个字中“义”有两层意思,第一层是义务。第二层是道义,也就是说志愿者要真正地帮助他人,不然就称不上“义”。在这一点,我觉得Ring House志愿活动更是非常有意义。就像我之前说的,这些老人有着丰富的知识、智慧以及积极的人生态度。如果他们仅仅是因为身体原因或者是时代的变迁而无法适应新的工具,那就太亏了。所以帮助他们如何应用这些工具,使得他们的生活更加方便更是非常必要。不仅如此,当我们帮助一些时常来到图书馆使用电子设备的老人时,久而久之就会形成一种情谊。我上学期曾经帮助过一位几乎每次都来的百岁老人。他收集了一些搞笑的名字,这些人名与一个词或者一个常用句子发音及其相似----比如说人名“Heywood Youbuzzoff” 发音与 “Hey! Would you buzz off?”(喂,你能走开吗?)相同或者是 “Kanye Digget”发音与 “Can you dig it”(你弄明白了吗? 此外还暗指电影《战士帮》)相似----这位老人因为年龄问题,打字不方便,所以让我帮他把这些名字打在文档上,并打印下来。有些名字确实编的巧妙至极,不但是很常见的姓名,而且发音出奇地相似。有时当我把这些名字按照他的拼写打在电脑上时,也忍俊不禁。这一学期我一直没有看到他,就向管理员询问他的情况,并请管理员老奶奶转达我对他的问候。没想到不一会,这位老先生真的下楼来见我了。不过那时我们快要走了,我也只是问候了一下他,和他道别。
我们现在回过来,用之前说的“数据”和“功利”的角度来看这个活动。每次一小时的时间并不很多。去敬老院当义工更是再平常不过的志愿活动,看上去似乎毫无新意可言,但如果我们仅仅是以这种角度去看,就显然失之偏颇。所以我有幸表达我对这一活动的感受,在感谢C&T给了我这么好的机会的同时,也希望并不是仅仅想着数据,或者非得干出什么别出心裁或是惊天动地的事来,而是借此对义工有更深的思考。当然, 本人参加Ring House义工活动仅有半年左右, 再加上才疏学浅, 目前对于义工的理解是肤浅片面的. 兴许大家或是将来的我回顾这篇拙劣的感想时,也会付之一笑.
 
By Leo Li (李由)
Picture
Photos by Xiaorong Zhang
1 Comment

What Lies Ahead...

11/15/2015

 
I walked in through the sliding doors, and looked around. "Hello!" I greeted as many new members were waiting in the main lobby. Smiling from the inside, I casually examined the young kids. Though first they may have looked like they were going to be useless to our cause, I quickly realized that they were just like me, four years prior. When this program started, we (the small group of original members) were all rookies. We had nothing to base our actions from, and had only the help of each other. Through the constant constructed criticism and fostering from Ms. Teng and Ms. Deborah, we quickly became masters of the trade. Now, we are no longer here. Throughout the years, most of us drifted away from the program, leaving few of the original 9 members. Now, it is the new generation's time to show us what they can do. With advice from everyone, including us veterans, they have the potential to be amazing. With a whopping 20 people, and a multitude of new small projects coming up, this is a time not just to do what the predecessors did before, but to refine and improve it to a new level. The last four years was only the start of what is going to be a wonderful program. This is a new chapter for the Ring House.
 
By Justin Zhou
Photos by Xiaorong Zhang and Frank Yang

Blog from Michelle Shen

11/8/2015

 
Today was the first time I had been to the Ring House.  I had expected more people to come, as I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to help out in the community, but the small group proved to be more than sufficient. I was also a bit nervous, as I was not the most technology-oriented person, but the questions that were asked were reasonable enough and I helped to the best of my abilities. The residents were a joy to work with, as they were rather determined and diligent, learning very quickly. All of the residents were eager to learn and grew frustrated when they couldn’t understand something. One resident in particular even took notes on everything I tried to do to help with her problem. Overall, I found this experience definitely worth the effort put into getting up so early on a Sunday morning.
By Michelle Shen
Photos by Xiaorong Zhang 

Ring House 过后

11/2/2015

1 Comment

 
前些天有幸参加了Ring House的摄影展和音乐会,摄影作品都是由年已近百的老人和我们的同学们一同完成,音乐会大部分也是由老人独自弹奏,在欣赏和聆听的过程中,自己也收获甚多。
    “自己老了,不如以前了”,是一句人们常常挂在嘴边的话。可Ring House的老人却给了人们另外一番景象,他们愿意一遍又一遍的学习现代电子产品;用那褶皱的双手一页一页地研究着名著;颤巍巍的拄着拐杖的他们一步步的迈向他们的目的地。双鬓渐白的他们仍然不断尝试,努力,学习。常常在思考,为什么他们可以近百岁的时候一定还要尝试他们可以完全不需要的东西,而作为年轻人的我们常常还在说放弃。歌德的名作《浮士德》、达.芬奇的《蒙娜丽莎》都是其各自老年时期的作品;齐白石、张大千等许多艺术家也都是年过60以上,才达到炉火纯青的状态的:著名军事文学家魏巍71岁离开工作岗位,花费6年时间,写成长篇小说《火凤凰》,并在他80岁时汇集出版了400余万字的《魏巍文集》;水稻专家袁隆平,70多岁了还在从事中国超级水稻杂交的研究。
   我认为,作为年轻人的我们,应该学习的不仅是Ring House老人们的博爱和善良,更应该学习的是他们的不断尝试的精神,厚积薄发,以年轻作为资本,不放弃作为我们心灵上的武器,来一场为捍卫自己梦想的挑战。告诉自己成功的道路还很漫长,告诉世界,我们这一代自信的力量 ,所有经历风雨的温柔与坚强 ,所有青春无悔烦恼与成长 ,所有奔向未来的理想与张扬。
  
By 马钰博
2015年11月2日
1 Comment

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