all in a day's work

so i've told you how i like my new job. i get to do something that i think contributes to the world. the hours are great. and i find it interesting, but not very stressful.

and last night, it got really interesting. first i prevented one of our students from going into a diabetic coma. yeah me. then later, i avoided being run down by three police cars heading to the scene of some crime a block away from the inner city center, where i was working. quite exciting, huh?

but here's the thing. while i am jazzed because i like my work, and i feel like it's important- let me tell you what prompted the student to have the diabetic "event." it was her "job" - more or less.

ok, this woman does not have a job. hasn't been able to find one. in these economic times. she is working very hard to get her g.e.d. diploma. hoping this will give her a better chance in the world. in the meantime, she has bills to pay. gas, groceries, rent, utilities. just like the rest of us. she needs to pay her bills. so since she has no job, she has to do what she can to pay those bills. so you know one of the things she does? she sells her plasma.

which is what she did yesterday before she came into class and showed up in front of me. now, i'm not really sure why in the hell they would let a woman with both high blood pressure and diabetes give plasma, but they did. and so there she was suddenly, "melting" right there in front of me. fortunately, before she completely melted, she was able to tell me that she was diabetic and that she had medicine in her purse. we got her that and got her orange juice, and eventually her vision came back, and her color came back, and her coherence came back. and eventually she was ok enough to get home. (and yes, we made sure she got there.)

but before she left and as she was recuperating, i spent some time talking to her about her life. and this is NO joke. this is when she relates to me about her economic circumstances, and how she sells her plasma, in order to make ends meet.

this is not a lazy woman. this is not an irresponsible woman. this is not a stupid woman. this is a woman in dire straights. and in ill health, who was born into bad circumstances.

and giving plasma to her is - all in a day's work.