(Seniors in) Social Activism - Informational and Collaborative Session

I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.

I work in the kitchen at an upscale retirement home. Its lovely, and very much about keeping the seniors entertained, like a never-ending cruise vacation. Many of the residents are still in their right minds. I know that if I was in their position, I would find this environment stifling. I felt that maybe the seniors were thirsty for something more meaningful. I decided to start a Social Activism Club.

After I got the okay from my boss, I booked the theatre and arrived early to rearrange the seating at the front into a circle for a discussion. The first lady rolled in and sat way at the back. I encouraged her to come closer but she informed me that she always sat in the back and she liked it best there. We got in a nice discussion anyway and I felt like I made a new friend.

Soon about nine more people came, including a woman in her thirties who works for one of the residents. I introduced myself and explained that this was to be a collaboration session for a social justice club. I told them about my idea to pick issues that we cared about. Then we could get together and do something about those issues. I suggested letter writing to governments or newspapers, sock knitting, cookie baking and encouragement card making. I asked what people thought.

Cue the crickets.

I shuffled in my seat awkwardly. The young woman smirked at me.

"Is this something you guys would be interested in doing?" I probed.

"Well, as far as resources go, we have money." a man said.

I said I didn't want this to be about spending money, but he made the point that the people who lived here were definitely not short on cash. I realized that I wasn't used to dealing with people who had money, so I decided to be open to the idea.

"Then maybe we could sponsor a low-income family!" I suggested.

"I don't want to donate anything!" an angry woman cried out. "I donate to the blind, I give my clothes to the Salvation Army! I've been giving my whole life! I don't want to spend more money!"

"Well, is there any issue you'd be interested in getting involved in?" I asked her.

"No, not really!" she replied, crossing her arms.

"Stephen Harper was in town," a voice called from a couple rows back. "Did you know that?"

I affirmed that I did.

He went on, "I didn't know he was here until I read it in the paper myself. And do you know why he was here? His son had a volleyball tournament. How come we didn't find out the results of the volleyball tournament? Why wasn't that in the paper? Thousands of people come to our city for a tournament and we don't even find out the results! That's something we could write to the paper about!"

"I don't care about volleyball!" the angry woman called out.

"Probably they all only came to see the prime minister," another lady cracked.

Then someone mused about how she didn't know who to vote for. I said that was something we could discuss. Someone asked me if our area's representatives were coming to the home. I said I didn't know.

A discussion began about how we should write letters telling our local government to place a few benches between the retirement home and the nearby mall so that residents could walk to the mall comfortably.

Around this time, my new friend, the lady in the very back, got up and left.

A woman who came in late piped up, "I missed the first part of this meeting. I was wondering, what does justice in Canada have to do with justice in the theatre?"

*Umm, what?* I explained my idea again and tried to explain to her that though we were meeting in the theatre, we weren't trying to achieve justice for the theatre. I asked if that clarified things for her. She said it didn't. I didn't know what to say.

Group discussion continued, this time about pension plans and how the roads in our area aren't what they used to be. For most of this part I just sat there bewildered.

I realized that activism might be too high a goal at this point. They sure seemed to like to discuss things though.

I proposed an idea. Maybe we could start a discussion forum on issues of social justice. This idea seemed to be received well. I looked at my watch. 2:35. We were supposed to go until 2:45 but I figured there wasn't much point in continuing so I closed the meeting. This made some of the ladies mad.

"What are we supposed to do with the next half hour?!"
"I thought this well supposed to go until 3!"
"Well, I guess I can read a book or something..."

Some of the men stayed behind. We got in a discussion about whether or not unions have made things better for the average working man in the last 50 years. One guy formerly worked for unions while the other had worked in management his whole life. Themes of socialism, feminism and materialism were brought up. My heart leaped. Coherent discussions could be had after all!

Perhaps there is hope for my little club!

I will certainly do things differently next time. I plan on breaking people off into smaller groups to be guided by discussion sheets. I plan on asking questions that will allow for them to incorporate their own personal experiences into their answers. Hopefully that works out less awkwardly. In any case, I'm sure its only me and the other young woman who remember how awkward the last session was.

I will probably do it differently the third time I go about this. After all, I have no idea what I'm doing.

And if this doesn't work out, that's okay too. But it would be cool if it did.