Blog 3: During Service

On Sunday, March 3, 2013, my partner and I volunteered at Kahl Home for the second time now. We were there a very long time this time and really had a chance to interact with the residents. We again served them drinks and snacks while watching the NASCAR race that Sunday afternoon. I got a chance to personally talk with each resident this time and some were more talkative than others, but it seemed like they were all more accepting of my being there this time. I could tell they were more accepting of my being there this time because they waved hello, all smiled a lot, and most invited me to sit down with them.

One person that I was able to meet that really stood out to me was Harriet Dias, who goes by the name of Cozi. She was such a sweet lady and so adorable. My conversation with her really related back to interpersonal communication, because we had a very in depth conversation for nearly two hours. She told me a lot of her own personal history as well as some United States history and Davenport history. Some of the history she told me about herself was that she is a retired veteran for the United States Army and how much that meant to her that she was able to be apart of that. She also told me how it really upsets her when young adults nowadays are not interested in history like she is and do not appreciate everything that everyone before them had to go through in order for them to be where they are today. I really understood what she was saying about the difference in generations. It made me think of the cultural differences that have been discussed in interpersonal communications and how those cultural differences do not necessarily have to be between different nationalities but that they can also be between different generations. For example, Cozi’s generation did not have much choice in serving in the war or having close relatives serve in it. They are also the generation that had to learn how to save money and rely on themselves because they lived through the great depression. Their generation had to make many sacrifices that our generation has not had to make. My generation has a choice in being a part of the military. Some choose to be a part of it and others could care less. I knew that our generations had many differences, but Cozi really pointed this out to me through conversation and stories.

From this visit to Kahl Home, I learned that there are many cultural differences between different generations of people. With my future visits to Kahl Home and with future experiences with different age groups, I will take these differences into consideration. I will try to consider the possible cultural differences and choose my words wisely so I do not offend anyone by accident. I will also try to start conversation with some of these differences in mind as well, because I am sure many of these residents still have a lot that they can teach me.