There is no such thing as an 'at-need' population
Last night, my husband offered his connections to private drug and alcohol rehab facilities as a resource for my upcoming counseling internship. I replied, “Thanks, but I think I’d rather work with more at need populations than in the expensive private facilities.”
As soon as I said it, I caught myself. Do I truly believe any one population needs help with drug and alcohol addiction more than another? I hear this argument applied to yoga often. They will say, “Yoga studios are always in rich neighborhoods, and the people who really need yoga can’t afford it.”
Well, I’m calling your bullshit and my own, too. Everyone needs help. Everyone needs access to counseling, and everyone needs access to yoga. More important than our needs, though, is our rights. We all have a right to resources that will help us be healthier, happier and more fulfilled. People at the highest levels of the corporate ladder struggle to claim that right just as much as people at the lowest.
I know that may not seem true at first glance, but if you spend some time among the world’s wealthiest, you will find that it is. You see, it’s not being poor that’s hard. It’s not being tired or sick that’s hard. It’s not even being addicted that’s hard. It’s being human. This being human is riddled with challenges from physical health and financial stability to personal fulfillment and spiritual satisfaction. Because being human is hard, people have discovered tools for helping us simply cope with a life full of questions. One of those tools is counseling; which, really, is just a formalized way of saying we share our experiences, best practices and listening ears. Another of those tools is yoga; which, really, is just a formalized way of saying we spend time in self-care to try and remember that we may be human, but we are not just human.
Whatever tools you have to share to make someone else’s life easier, share them. If you charge two dollars or two thousand dollars, you are still helping make the world a better place. We need all kinds of people at all kinds of income levels and social statuses to help fund the public good. We need the corporate types – those people who will fund breakthroughs in technology, engineering, economics, health and human advancement – and we need the counselors and the yoga studios who will serve those people. We also need the dreamers, the artists and the lovers – those people who will serve as the moral compass to direct where the funds go – and we need the counselors and the yoga studios who will serve those people.
We need all types, and we need to serve all types. We are all in this together.
