When I think about community, I automatically think about small group or college group. To me I still couldn’t consider myself as part of the big community of our society unlike people who are working in big companies and interacting with people on a daily basis. I work as an interpreter on an on-call basis; the place that I work varies from court, outpatient, emergency room, housing department, middle school, elementary school, to elderly house. As long as there are Chinese who does not feel comfortable in communicating in English, I would be there to conduit their thoughts. A lot of the time I found this job very meaningful and very thankful for how God puts me in such a position.
The job itself is very flexible and self-motivated. When we get the call, we can decide whether we want to take it or not, and when we are there, we don’t have to put in our own thinking. According to one of the guidelines, we have to translate whatever we hear without our own modification. However, since I was born in the same culture of the patients, I always see them feel more comfortable sharing what they think, which normally will not be heard by the target English speaker. At that point, I always feel like I am not an interpreter, but more like their family member, their son.
Looking back on my community of friends and peer groups, 99% of the time we avoid talking about sensitive topics, or things that will trigger our negative emotions like shame, stress, anger, sadness, or bitterness. Inevitably, I think that is because of my Asian-ness which acts as a detour sign whenever the conversation is about to breach my emotion defense. As a result most of the conversations were pretty much like eating gum; it is fun to chew but you don’t get any nutrient. One of the valuable experiences that I got from my job is that in order for you to be part of other people’s life, you have to be transparent. I know the patients’ sickness, their naughty daughter who made the school to kick her out, the way they drive so that the judge fined him 500 dollars, and so I can help them with my whole heart without any holding back. Same thing happens to my small group, the more I am willing the share, more feedback I got from my friends, and stronger the bond we have.
God created us as he planned; there is no way we can escape from His sight. So be transparent to Him and to others, be real.
- Morris Yuen
