Sunday, February 25, 2007

Associations, Affiliations, and the Snake

I was online anyway, so I headed over to the APA.org site. I was prepared to dole out the money for membership. I filled out the application and got my debit card ready. I entered personal, and not so personal, information in all of the appropriate fields, scrolled through the dozens of journal offers with my jaw bouncing off the floor (the one that interested me was $78), until I finally got to the end. I found out at the end that it is not an online application. No instant gratification for me here today! So I will print out the application, write a check, mail it in, and wait. I have time, and I will use that time to try to make new roads and connections to my future.

I think I will definitely check into the Psi Chi chapter at ISU. I have felt a little shy about joining in with the college groups and scenes because of the great deal of ripeness I have in comparison to most of the students here. I wonder if I could really have that much in common with many of them. Is an interest in having a career in psychology enough? It is a question that deserves an answer, so I will look into it.

I really like the idea of connecting and associating with people who are ethically minded. I have labored more than a decade interning in the field I love. During that time, I have worked with people who weren’t terribly ethical or easy to work with (not the clients, they were always ethical and collaborative). I have learned that I can work with almost anyone. I have also learned that I could improve a great deal in the area of courage: standing up for those who can’t, even when it means hardship for me.

Even at my age, with all of my experience, and all of my ripeness, I still have a lot to learn. I hope one of the things I learn best is how to connect with people who, like me, really want to help those who need it most. I hope to find people who do not rely on cognitive heuristics to navigate through life. I hope to meet and bond with those who are willing to do the work to make this world a better place. I will give the organizations available a chance to help me get there.


The picture is a section of the snake river taken at a rest stop near Massacre Rocks. I took tons of pictures, and this was the only one the survived the deletion process.

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