Learned helplessness

One of the hardest things for me to understand in the lives of the young men I'm working with in La Carpio is their fatalistic worldview. Nearly all of the boys I encounter on a daily basis have little or no desire to work, to learn or to improve their lot. Most eat maybe one meal a day. Besides a shower, the only other activity they have day after day, is playing pick-up games of soccer. A psychologist would likely diagnose a majority of them with "learned helplessness."

Learned helplessness is (from the Encyclopedia Britannica): "A model of depression in which exposure to unforeseen and adverse situations gives rise to a sense of helplessness or an inability to cope with or devise ways to escape such situations, even when escape is possible. Learned helplessness often occurs in children who are raised in harsh social environments where success is difficult to achieve. They suffer motivational losses and are very resistant to training."

Ironically, Andrea and I are both engaged with trying to instill training and discipline of one type or another (be it academic studies, vocational preparation, pursuing God, following rules, etc.). We have definitely noticed these characteristics strongly present in the youth of La Carpio.

Two sad examples of those "unforeseen and adverse" situations occurred last week. Alex (one of the young men in the carpentry program) was the neighbor of 9-year-old Stuart. Last Monday night, Stuart was playing in the street with a group of kids when a gang fight broke out. Stuart was shot in the eye and died shortly thereafter in the hospital. A woman, also an innocent bystander, was wounded. Later in the week, around noon on Friday, a 12-year-old girl was shot by a boy a year or two older than her.

When I talked to Alex about what happened, he told me the details matter-of-factly, almost as if he was reporting something on the news. His face was impassive and blank. I couldn't get a read on his emotions. Besides wrestling with anger, the combination of the randomness of the violence, its senselessness and the young age of the victims made me feel sorrow. It dawned on me that being raised in such an environment, would inevitably lead to feelings of despair and a fatalistic worldview. These kinds of events happen with regularity in Alex's world. It must be so easy to conclude that it's really not worth trying or persevering in life when it can all end in a random, harsh moment.

However, despite the sorrow I feel over these two recent killings, I know there's hope for the boys in the carpentry program, the girls in Andrea's classes and other young people in the community. Besides the growth I've seen in the boys as they've learned to work and devote themselves to something, and begin to take pride in the work they do, I've also seen them grow in the knowledge of Him in whom we place our hope.

Peace,
Seth