I particularly liked the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, which is based on Chris Gardner’s actual tale. He was a homeless guy who had been on the streets for nearly a year. His marriage was winding down. He had a difficult life. He buys bone density detectors that are portable. He makes an attempt to market them to physicians and medical clinics. He sells some of them, but not quite enough to sustain himself and his little son, whom he has custody of. His savings account is also garnished by the IRS for overdue income taxes. He is evicted due to his failure to pay his rent. He’s having a terrible time putting his money in order, and being homeless makes things much more difficult. He stays at a bus station with his kid for a while before moving to a shelter. He joins a brokerage company for an unpaid internship. For a paid position as a broker, he must compete with twenty other guys. At the conclusion of the film, he gets the job and goes on to become a billionaire with his own brokerage company. Along the process, he has numerous ups and downs. He misplaces one of his scanners at one point but is able to recover it. He never tells his employer about his homelessness.
Knowing that the film was based on a real tale added to its impact. This father was having financial difficulties and had to swallow his pride by putting his kid in a shelter. But the greatest thing is that he never gave up on himself. It is, in my opinion, the overall message of the film. A person may be down and out at one point in their life, but with hard work and persistence, they may improve their situation. We all need a little assistance now and again, and that’s just OK. The film inspired me to help with others who are suffering. I reasoned that even a little bit of assistance might go a long way. That is how I got into the area of social services. The main character’s zeal and perseverance had unquestionably boosted my career.
I worked for a number of organizations that catered to various demographics. One of them was a non-profit organization that assisted men and women on public assistance in re-entering the job. I worked as a case manager with a variety of men and women of different ages. The program was divided into many stages. They would first come to work on their resumes before meeting with a job developer. The job developer had contacts in shops, restaurants, and factories, among other areas of business. They’d have them fill out an application and arrange up interviews for them. After that, if they were employed, they would come to me for assistance while they were working. If they had any problems or obstacles that prevented them from getting to work, I had to help them. They sometimes had childcare or personal problems that prevented them from coming to work. They would finish the program and be on their own after they had worked for six months. Our customers might sometimes express dissatisfaction with their jobs or their lives in general. They were well aware that they might contact me at any moment. I could tell my customers were relieved after ranting to me on many occasions. That brightened my day every time.
Another organization I worked with had a program for the similar demographic, but it was for community college students. They have to be enrolled in this program in order to keep their public assistance payments and attend courses. The majority of the customers were young ladies in their twenties and thirties. Many of them were suffering, but they knew they had to keep going, much like Will Smith’s character in the film. All of the customers were single parents with little children who struggled to keep up with their academics. Some of them have had to deal with problems such as homelessness and domestic violence. We provided lots of resources for them if we couldn’t assist them with a specific problem. They needed a shoulder to rely on from time to time. One of the young women came into my office one day. I invited her to sit down and speak to me after she broke into tears. She informed me about her father’s problems and how he had abused her emotionally. It was difficult to listen to her, but she embraced me at the conclusion of the meeting and told me how much better she felt because I listened to her. That simultaneously crushed my heart and made me feel wonderful.
I admired these young mothers with little children who were attending school to achieve their goals. We had a large number of nursing students that were enrolled in one of the most challenging nursing programs in the state. Many of them were successful, and they returned to inform us that they were working at local hospitals. They would often enter the program with a negative attitude since they were accustomed to being handled badly by welfare personnel. My coworkers and I, on the other hand, would explain that we are not the same as their previous case workers and that we are there to help them. The ladies eventually learnt to trust and confide in us. This enabled us to assist them in achieving their goals. They were accustomed to being criticized by society for having children at such a young age and not being financially secure. We weren’t present to judge them in this program, however. We were there to highlight their good characteristics and abilities. You could see they were grateful for it. We helped them hang on and keep their eyes on the goal even when everything appeared to be coming apart for them, much like Will Smith’s character in The Pursuit of Happiness.
