Caring Narrative Interview

Running head: Caring and the human experience in society 1

Caring and the human experience in society 5

Caring and the Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation and Interpretation of an Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring

Student

Gwynedd Mercy University

Caring and the Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation and Interpretation of an Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring

Caring is displayed through kindness and the concern for others. Caring, or kind-heartedness, can also be an attitude that allows the individual to not only be exposed to other individuals’ thoughts and emotions, but also to be open and nonjudgmental to another individual’s hardships. For example, there are two types of caring according to scholar Nel Noddings: caring-for and caring-about (Smith, 2004). When we care for someone, we are present and physically there for the individual to lean on. When we care-about someone, or an idea, we do not have to be physically present to show our concerns. Therefore, caring has multiple meanings due to multiple perspectives of the individual. The meaning of the term caring can differ based on the individual’s age and one’s experiences in life. For that reason, an interview of an adolescent was recently conducted to show that one’s meaning of caring will vary based on one’s development in life. This discussion will be connected to the thoughts and ideas of three well-known caring scholars.

The first question in the interview asked the interviewee to describe what it means to care for another human being. The interviewee answers by stating that caring for another human being involves love and wanting to be there for the person. One example of caring that the interviewee used to further explain his meaning of caring related to the parent to child relationship. He said that “when you care for someone you buy them clothes, make sure they are safe, make sure they are comfortable, and have what they need” (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). This hinted at the idea that caring had to start somewhere for the interviewee. For example, the interviewee may have learned what it means to care for another human being by recognizing how his parents and family cared for him first.

The interviewee’s meaning of caring also relates closely to his first memory of being cared for. He said that after he had surgery on his foot both of his sisters and his grandmother cared for him around the clock after he left the hospital. He described this time in his life as one of the most painful, yet eye-opening experience in his life. So, today, he may understanding what caring Scholar Nel Noddings calls natural caring. “Natural caring is a longing for goodness that arises out of the experience or memory of being cared for” (Smith, 2004, para. 3). Nel Noddings often spoke about natural caring in order to assess one’s ability to be both sympathetic and empathetic when “engaging in caring encounters” (Smith, para. 4).

The idea of natural caring is also seen when the interviewee speaks about nonviolence and how nonviolent human beings usually gives everyone a chance. He continues by stating that “a nonviolent human being sees everyone equally and does not shot or kill anyone” (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). However, this could be viewed as a very broad statement. If the interviewee thought more critically, he could have better answered the question by also thinking about why it is important to be a nonviolent human being.

Therefore, the next question— why should society care about people or care for them? — forced the individual to think deeply in order to bring out his “ah-ha” moment. So according to the interviewee, “if we actually enjoy helping each other then there would be less hate and negativity in society. Although, on the other hand, if society continues not to care about other people, our society will continue to be selfish and still be known as the doggy-dog world that people claim it is today” (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). Then, he added that without a caring society, people in this world would form less relationships, miss out on making connections or connecting with others, and lack both sympathy and empathy for each other. Plus, in some cases, some of the most careless or ignorant individuals can be the people who are closest to the individual.

In Jennifer Worth’s (2002) short story, Of Mixed Decent, the writer showed the reader that the person closest to another individual can hurt one unintentionally too. This happens because for one moment the person may only be thinking about their own desires and not how their actions can impact another individual as a result. Hence, if the interviewee had read Jennifer Worth’s short story, he would agree that how we care for someone or how we care about society can have both a short-term and long-term effect on an individual’s life.

Consequently, when it comes to the relationship between caring and nonviolence, a good relationship between caring and nonviolence must involve peace, love, and happiness, according to the interviewee. Furthermore, in order to create a more caring and less violent society, he acknowledges that we have to eliminate discrimination. Specifically, “we have to eliminate discrimination in the work field, create more jobs for felons and young adults, and think less about hurting an individual and care more about guiding or helping each other” (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). In order to be more caring and less violent, we also have to be resilient. If society or the people that make up our society establish or recognize the relationship between caring and resilience than it is less likely for people to ignore the beauty of another individual’s differences. Caring scholar Oliver Sacks (1995) defined this relationship by showing viewers the beauty of an individual’s brain. He showed us that resilience can allow autistic individuals to learn to love and care for others even though they are afraid of something as simple as a hug. Plus, by being resilient, one can help another person become resilient by encouraging them to face their fears and understand what is meaningful to them.

This interview opened my eyes to the idea that caring is a skill. Caring is a talent that people either do naturally, or think more about because there are different approaches to care. However, one key insight that I gained about caring from my interviewee is that “caring is not an obligation” (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). At some point in the interview, he implied that people do not have to care about society because he compared it to the fact that most people are private and do not want help. I did not agree with this statement, but this made me think more about the fact that care or caring is not a popular topic. Today, people use history and politics to stress a tragedy or an on-going situation, yet they do not simply talk about the act of caring to resolve the problem. Another insight I gained about caring after completing the interview is that caring will always be defined differently no matter how old the individual is. For example, as we got further into the interview, I tried to advise my interviewee to think critically and give more information, but he explained to me that the questions are really simple. He told me that if I think too hard about the topic or try to make too many connections, I am actually taking away from the meaning of the term, and this is how ideas become confusing (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017)!