touching lives

I have been saying from my previous posts that the key to becoming successful in your profession is to commit yourself into it. When you decide to pursue a profession, it isn’t only a job that has to be done. Altruism can go a long way and Freedom Writers showed us how. The movie reminds us why we spend years to love a profession that gives us a chance to save lives.  Among the many life lessons I saw in the movie, let me just name a few that can definitely influence my future as a physical therapist.  

Attitudes are the hardest to deal with, but it is the core of every teaching session. Learning won’t even seep in unless the learner believes that the teacher has compassion, to understand and to care about what is happening to his/her life. We have to be able to let them feel that their hardships matters to us and we are there to help them overcome the primary adversities that hinder them to experience a good life, that is, the inability to become independent at the very basic level. 

I learned that to be able to break into walls and touch hearts, you have to show that you worthy of such privileges. Respect is one thing but being able to relate is another. Patients are letting us into their lives but therapy sessions are a set number of days and hours. We can’t just force them into opening up, or take forever just to prove that they are in good hands. We better show right on the first meeting that we are capable of helping them change for the better. Looking back in all the years of my educational experience, I realized that what I remember most are the teachers, not the methods or the techniques that they use.