I mostly agree with you, and would also point out that people (some, at least) enjoy poetry. I think one of the functions of poetry is developing the language; adding new ‘seen things’, as opposed to ‘understood things’ we get from common speech. ‘Rosemary is for remembrance’ was never about rosemary, but it has some meaning, and it conveys the sheer tragedy without forcing the reader to stand up for Ophelia. Fiction reminds people of generalized possibilities and reasons for helping others, much more enticing than real life can offer.
My mom is a psychologist, and when people began arriving (to Kyiv) from the East of Ukraine she switched her volunteering activities to primarily help those people. There used to be lots of volunteers, more than there is. And when they met their charges, it turned out that up close and personal volunteering is not such a rewarding thing! The kids played with food which was bought by someone else on someone else’s money. The moms took perambulators (a rare commodity) for themselves and to send to their friends back East. (Staying back was mostly seen as a signal of either ‘I don’t want to move’ or ‘I can’t move’, but in any case sending perambulators there was not considered efficient use of money.) There were men of more than twenty years old trying to register as boys.
...and nothing of it is a reason not to help them, but when there are few helpers and many in need—there will come fewer new helpers with time, not in the least because of rumour mills. (And if I remember correctly, in the first months after Maidan at least six volunteers of psychological service died of heart attacks.)
So I’d rather have future volunteers start with Ophelia—and maybe dog pounds, they offer a stab at physical work + making a fool of oneself—than with real humans. Builds tolerance.
I mostly agree with you, and would also point out that people (some, at least) enjoy poetry. I think one of the functions of poetry is developing the language; adding new ‘seen things’, as opposed to ‘understood things’ we get from common speech. ‘Rosemary is for remembrance’ was never about rosemary, but it has some meaning, and it conveys the sheer tragedy without forcing the reader to stand up for Ophelia. Fiction reminds people of generalized possibilities and reasons for helping others, much more enticing than real life can offer.
My mom is a psychologist, and when people began arriving (to Kyiv) from the East of Ukraine she switched her volunteering activities to primarily help those people. There used to be lots of volunteers, more than there is. And when they met their charges, it turned out that up close and personal volunteering is not such a rewarding thing! The kids played with food which was bought by someone else on someone else’s money. The moms took perambulators (a rare commodity) for themselves and to send to their friends back East. (Staying back was mostly seen as a signal of either ‘I don’t want to move’ or ‘I can’t move’, but in any case sending perambulators there was not considered efficient use of money.) There were men of more than twenty years old trying to register as boys.
...and nothing of it is a reason not to help them, but when there are few helpers and many in need—there will come fewer new helpers with time, not in the least because of rumour mills. (And if I remember correctly, in the first months after Maidan at least six volunteers of psychological service died of heart attacks.)
So I’d rather have future volunteers start with Ophelia—and maybe dog pounds, they offer a stab at physical work + making a fool of oneself—than with real humans. Builds tolerance.