It’s graduation time around these parts. I’m in the extended MSW program so its extra bittersweet for me. Those that I started out here with two years ago are moving on, past the classes and the field placements and I am not…. one more year, just one more. I’m experiencing a sort of odd mixture of jealousy and relief. More school, ick. More time to figure out what is it that I want to do with myself, thank goodness.

With graduation and the end of the academic year comes, inevitably, the end of this blog and my parting note. A while ago, I came across this quote from George Saunders (I swear its not from the graduation speech at Syracuse that takes over the internet around this time of year).  

“Don’t be afraid to be confused.

Try to remain permanently confused.

Anything is possible.

Stay open, forever,

so open that it hurts, and

then open up some more, until the day you die…”

The line, while intended (if memory serves me correctly) to inspire young writers, seems to me really pertinent to social work, to what I’ve been talking about here, to what my fellow social media team members have been writing about on their blogs. Social work is confusing. I will never understand why some of the things that have happened to the clients I’ve worked with have happened.  I hope there never comes a time when it doesn’t boggle my mind how systems designed to help the most vulnerable groups  amongst us can fail them so entirely and unapologetically. I may never feel 100% certain that my work with my clients is enough, that its making a difference, that its what they need.  From this confusion, though, is the opportunity for fresh ideas, new solutions, for change to spring. Anything is possible.    So my friends as you graduate and enter the field, try to stay open to what that confusion can bring. It will hurt, absolutely. It will be incredibly frustrating, incredibly soul crushing. Being open to our clients can mean allowing in a lot of pain but don’t close yourself off. When you feel yourself getting burnt out, open up some more. Open up some more because thats how the real work gets done. We are blessed with the opportunity to be a catalyst for change, for real impactful change, in our client’s lives, in their families, their communities and their country. Let’s see what we can do with it…. no pressure.