wish

My female owner had a better day. She dragged herself to school in the hot autumn sun to complete some miscellaneous bits of work and to borrow some books to start her assignment on “workplace bullying”. No prizes for guessing why she chose to write on that topic, in a module entitled “Counselling and violence”. My female owner is now two shades darker, no thanks to the roasting properties of the Brisbane sun.

Her Singaporean friend contacted her about something upsetting. At such times, my female owner wishes that she knows the right words to say to encourage or comfort people. She finds it so hard to compose her thoughts and communicate them through SMS. I think I know what she means, you can’t really ask someone to “tell me more” in SMS and hope to get a proper understanding of the situation. What can you type in 160 characters that would make a difference to someone who is upset?

At night, she returned home and from the window, she saw her housemates sitting at the dining table talking solemnly. Female Housemate actually went back to her room by the time my female owner opened the front door. Male Housemate was left sitting at the table. He looked distressed and opened up to her about his stress. In a horrible mix of English and Mandarin, my female owner tried to understand what he was going through and provided some basic counselling. Again, my female owner was left wondering if she could have done any better to help a distressed person.

As a counsellor, who she is, is her main tool in effecting change. My female owner realises that it is time to sharpen herself so that she can be more effective in helping others.