Social Work-Life Span Interview
As one goes through all the stages of life development, one continues to gain a significant appreciation throughout life. From the early stages of childhood, then navigating through the middle ages and lastly, as one faces the inception of old age. As one gets a deeper understanding of how people grow gradually and change as they grow older helps a lot in appreciating and learning to manage all the stages of one life. Thus getting to interview a 67year woman is an opportunity to understand further the lifespan development concept. From the interview, we will learn the ups and downs of all the stages of human development and also how to learn ways on how to manage one’s life as we continue to develop gradually. An additional focus on my interview is to know how certain events in her life affected the development of my interviewee. Through the meeting, we will get to learn from the interviewee’s experiences the early development stages that she remembers up to the current lessons.
According to our interviewee, she loves being addressed as Mrs. Young because she still believes that she has a long journey ahead of her despite being 67 years of age. Being born in Pennsylvania as an African American girl was a bit challenging for her. She was in an era where discrimination of people of color was not a topic of discussion. There were barely any rights that supported the existence of a person of color. Thus they were highly discriminated against because of their color. Despite being a black girl, she explains that there are dull and bright moments of her life. Mrs. Young begins by narrating one of her earliest memories of her childhood. As early as 3years of age, she had already known how to play the piano. Her passion and talent for music were inevitably portraying itself. “Before I even went to school in my early childhood days, I was playing the piano with my eyes closed,” Mrs. Young narrates tells us. She was raised by parents who nurtured her as a church girl, thus playing the piano easy for her. However, Mrs. Young never sang in church in her childhood days as she had never realized she could sing.
Mrs. Young tells us of how she was in a school of colored kids; thus, there was no issue of discrimination. Making friends was quite easy for her, as she was a very interactive person. She had many friends, but Mrs. Young tells us of her three main friends. Two of them were girls from her neighborhood, and her other friend was a boy who schooled with her from the first day in school. “Maintaining friendship was difficult during our times, especially if one had very close friends from the next door,” Mrs. Young says with a sad face. She tells an instance when one of her friends told the rest of her classmates about how her parents had argued. Which later caused attention around their neighborhood. This made her have low self-esteem since she was a very talkative person and had many friends in school. This made her not to go to school for a whole week. Up to now, she tells of how she doesn’t know the whereabouts of her close friends in school.
Music was Mrs. Young’s favorite thing since her childhood days till now. Her piano skills are still at the tip of her hand. Mrs. Young also narrates how she learned how to sing in her middle adult years. After she was denied an opportunity to study in an international music school, all because she was a black girl, she decided to play the piano in the clubs around where she lived. That was where she began to play the piano and sing simultaneously. This talent has grown till now. According to Mrs. Young, learning was fun for her because she liked interacting with different children. Her best subject was music, while her worst was mathematics since she was never interested in calculations. Over the years, her happiest moment in life is when she was awarded as being the best jazz artist of the year. She had sung a cover song of a famous artist but in a jazz version. This made her gain recognition by many as she managed to sell over a million-plus album. April 30 is the most important world event for her as it is the International Jazz Day. She gets to remember the many cover songs she sang and also other Jazz artists.
Mrs. Young says that she has no military experience, and she dropped religion the moment she stepped foot in a club. Neither of her parents was proud of the decision she made. However, she tells us that she will soon get her religious life back and start singing in church, mainly for spiritual growth. Nina Simone was the woman who influenced most of her life. She tells us of how the famous woman fought for the rights of a black person using her talent for music. Mrs. Young also tells us how the loss of her parents brought a significant change in her life. At one point in life, she thought that she had lost everything in her life. But after some guidance and counseling for her while she was able to move on with her life. One of the most important lessons in her life is to learn how to fight hard despite all the hardships. Her music life was not a walk in the park, and it needed a woman who was ready to fight all sorts of challenges in life. Being a black woman made situations in life even hard. However, being a tough woman made her receive an award and gain recognition in most parts of the world.
The death of her parents made her a tough woman. It also motivated her that all was not lost in life. It was after that event that she received many awards in her music career.Mrs.Young narrates that she is proud of herself since she managed to pursue her music career and also fight for the civil rights of a black person. Mrs. Young tells of how she has donated many resources to the less fortunate through charity work; she has impacted the lives of many. The little effort she made is worth remembrance. Mrs. Young describes aging as a phase in life where little can be done. Her social life has also reduced, and according to her, successful aging is talking to young people, which makes world life feel young again. Mrs. Young always had problems accessing healthcare until the day she got admitted to the nursing home. She appreciates the caring doctors who have been with her during the aging phase. According to Mrs. Young, she is an older adult since she has a lot to do in her life in spite of being old.
“As an individual, friendships are not as close as compared to the past. As one gets old, one’s social life slowly diminishes, and more often, I am always alone,” Mrs. Young says. However, she has a few friends left in the nursing home Mrs. Young says that she has not recently participated in any activity. As an individual, Mrs. Young has had challenges in getting to know her relatives. She says that she only knows her sister, who rarely visits her. Her children have neglected her; however, she says that the visits she gets from different people are still a blessing to her life. Through the lifespan of Mrs. Young, she tells of how she had to be a tough black woman to fight against all the odds. She also appreciates the fact that she is getting old; however, she has a lot to do even in her old age. As I interacted with Mrs. Young, I learned of how determined she was all through her life despite all the challenges. Thus we also have to be determined to make it in life. Through her, I also learned that the old people are a blessing to our lives as they advise us on what paths to take; thus, they should be well taken care of. Lastly, when I get an opportunity to work in any nursing home or social workplace, I will take care of my clients in the best way possible. With that, I will have positively touched the hearts of many.