"Opening Eyes Opening Minds" by Megan G

Throughout the seventeen years of my life, I’m very proud of the values, morals, and ethics that were taught to me growing up.  I grew up with a father who practiced Judaism and a mother who practiced Christianity. Although these religions have different views, they have similar morals such as compassion.  My parents have shaped and instilled in me to be compassionate toward all people regardless what they look like, where they come from, or what they believe in.

In elementary school, the morals my parents taught were put to the test when I was given the opportunity to work with autistic children. When I was in my third grade class, my attention was grabbed by a boy who was taught separate from the rest of the class. I could not understand why he was given different class work, or why no one wanted to play with him at recess. One day before recess, I asked his teacher, Mrs. Porter, if I could play with the boy Connor because he was playing alone with her.  When I played with him at recess, a lot of the other children would tease Connor saying why someone so smart is playing with a kid so stupid that they need their own personal teacher. I did not see Connor the way others would and I would try to protect him from the cruel words the other classmates would say.

Despite the crude comments given by others, I continued playing at recess with him for the whole year.  I realized I had great compassion and patience for these children with their disability.  I would ask questions to his teacher and try to learn as much as possible from her. Mrs. Porter ignited a spark in me to pursue a career working with children that had mental disabilities.

During my sophomore year, I worked at Loma Linda Hospital as a volunteer. I requested to work with an occupational therapist to observe their daily routine working with mentally ill children. For six weeks I worked with an occupational therapist at the behavioral medicine center. I soon learned, not only did the occupational therapist work with autistic children, they also worked with children that had birth defects, birth injuries, sensory processing disorders, behavioral problems due to traumatic injuries, and mental health disorders. My eyes were open to the countless amount of people I could help and was eager to learn as much as I could in a limited amount of time.

From my religious influences from my parents to the experiences in school and my community, these have greatly shaped my values that one should have compassion for one another and to do so in a patient manner. These are the values that I hope to practice in my aspired career as an occupational therapist. When I treat my patients, I plan to see them as the person they are and not the disability they have. I would like to be there to celebrate every patient’s triumph with ongoing development and growth, and encouraging them to rise and continue with every struggle or set back.  These moral values have given me a great foundation to pursue my dreams and aspirations to help others in the field of behavioral medicine.