I’ve been volunteering at a Philadelphia center for the blind
and visually impaired for the past few months. I’ve been regularly meeting with the same blind woman to
transcribe written articles to Braille.
I read the written copy of an article out loud while she follows on her
Braille copy to make sure they’re perfectly lined up before the copy is ready
to mass-print for the nation-wide copy that the center distributes. After 10minutes or so, we’ll switch:
she’ll read out loud from her Braille copy while I follow along on my written
copy and make sure we’re in sync.
We chit-chat a bit sometimes- it’s not all business! While I’ve felt my time there isn’t
used in the most efficient way, I’ve enjoyed my time spent volunteering and
with my blind partner. Today was
different, however.
I
haven’t always been the most punctual volunteer, often showing up around
10-15minutes late for my 10am-12noon time slot. “What are they gonna say though”, I figure- “I’m a
volunteer.” But, after I overslept
and missed last week’s ‘shift’ entirely, I concluded that I should ‘resign’
after this week so that they may find a more accountable volunteer to fill my
position. Knowing that this would
be my last shift today, I was excited but a little sentimental.
However,
the article we were transcribing today prompted an unexpected altercation. From inside Harpers Magazine, we were transcribing an article on the history of
an American museum commemorating a multi-national socialist union revolt in the
early 1900’s. The article occasionally
juxtaposed the multi-cultural revolt to modern-day Trump America. With any mention of ‘Muslims’, ‘Trump’,
‘unions’, ‘socialism’, or even ‘equality’ and ‘social justice’, my partner
would cynically snort. After a few
outbursts, she said, “I’m sorry- I don’t know if we already talked about your
political views, but… I just
always hear about MUSLIMS! It’s
always about the Muslims! I
mean…”. I waited for her to
continue. I forget exactly how she
continued, but it followed along a quasi-racist(for religion?) path. I tried to make an offhand comment to
dispel her anger, but figured it was a passing sentiment and not to dig too
deep. However, a few other mentions
of unions of multiple cultures mixing together prompted another sarcastic
outburst and I had to engage. She
became embarrassed and insisted she wasn’t racist. Although I just sat back and let her go on, she continued to
work herself up into a Fox News-ish frenzy; angry and scared of an idea about
an American country dedicated to all walks of life and not, I’d assume, just
the white. It got a little
tense. I tried to continue with
the reading, but felt compelled to address her snorts when she made them at a
mention of ‘social justice’ for instance.
Strange, I thought, how this relationship has devolved.
Anyway,
I finished the shift and humorously told her to lay off the Fox News- that it’s
making her angry and scared. She
laughed. But- this was my last
shift, remember! So, in a day or
two, I’ll call up the coordinator to say I’m finished volunteering there, but
once my partner gets word of my ‘resignation’, I’m sure she’ll assume it was
because of our last meeting’s awkwardness! Good, I think.
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