Thank you for this post. I couldn’t agree more! I have been volunteering at Blanchet House, a cafe that provides three hot meals a day to anyone. Our guests are shown to a seat, served meals and drinks, and treated like beloved guests. It’s not always calm and the guests are not always respectful, but I think as a volunteer it’s been good to take the posture of a servant instead of a benefactor.
Yes!!! I love this. People don’t always show up as their best selves and that is okay- we need to give people the benefit of the doubt and truly believe they’re doing the best they can and showing up as much as they have the capacity to.
Yes! I work with refugees, and I've noticed this too. Sometimes it's even cultural. For example, a volunteer who collected clothes from her neighbors for an Afghan baby was really disappointed at how the mum put away the bags without even opening them, much less ooh-ing and aw-ing over their contents. But her behavior was respectful for Afghan culture, where it's rude to acknowledge a gift in the giver's presence. There's an excellent book called "The Ungrateful Refugee" that looks at this phenomenon, among other things. (link to post I wrote on it a bit https://open.substack.com/pub/planetnomad5/p/grateful-refugees?r=6ax0c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
This is a whole different lens; the way culture plays into how people show up, express themselves, perceive things, etc. super crucial to think about and keep in mind. Thank you for sharing and being here 💖
Thank you for this post. I couldn’t agree more! I have been volunteering at Blanchet House, a cafe that provides three hot meals a day to anyone. Our guests are shown to a seat, served meals and drinks, and treated like beloved guests. It’s not always calm and the guests are not always respectful, but I think as a volunteer it’s been good to take the posture of a servant instead of a benefactor.
Yes!!! I love this. People don’t always show up as their best selves and that is okay- we need to give people the benefit of the doubt and truly believe they’re doing the best they can and showing up as much as they have the capacity to.
Yes! I work with refugees, and I've noticed this too. Sometimes it's even cultural. For example, a volunteer who collected clothes from her neighbors for an Afghan baby was really disappointed at how the mum put away the bags without even opening them, much less ooh-ing and aw-ing over their contents. But her behavior was respectful for Afghan culture, where it's rude to acknowledge a gift in the giver's presence. There's an excellent book called "The Ungrateful Refugee" that looks at this phenomenon, among other things. (link to post I wrote on it a bit https://open.substack.com/pub/planetnomad5/p/grateful-refugees?r=6ax0c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
This is a whole different lens; the way culture plays into how people show up, express themselves, perceive things, etc. super crucial to think about and keep in mind. Thank you for sharing and being here 💖