What I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up

There was an article on the front page of this past Sunday of the Shreveport Times that really hit home for me.  It was about a family trying to prevent their father from getting released from prision.  Andrew Ayres Sr. is in prision for physical and sexual abuse and neglect of his now 10 grown children.  I went to school with this man's children.  Their last names was Ayres so everyone referred to them as "The Ayres Kids".  One of the children William was in my class, we were only in the 6th grade.  Everyone in our town knew these kids were being severely abused.  The children came to school wearing the same dirty clothes everyday, covered in bruises and starving.  Everyone heard the stories that their dad had a chain around the refrigerator and refused the kids from eating at home.  The only meals they ever had was breakfast and lunch at school which they scarfed down and ate every bite.  The cafeteria workers (my grandmother being one of them) would give the kids double portions.  When the children had head lice, the father shaved all of their heads (including the girls) and made the girls wear these horrible old lady wigs to school.  One Christmas our class got together and bought a new pair of jeans for William that we made it look like he had just been lucky and drew the number for that present.  I remember he wore a  blue "Who Killed J.R.?" T-shirt  and those jeans to school everyday.  The kids never had coats when it was cold and never wore socks.  The father threatened our school bus driver with a gun because she was trying to stand up for the kids.  My heart went out to the kids and it still does.  I can not imagine the hell they went through on a daily basis.  I am in awe of their courage and strength.  I have more respect for them than anyone else I have ever met.

I remember being in sixth grade wondering why when everyone knew that these children were being abused yet no one did anything.  It was at that point in sixth grade that I decided I wanted to be a social worker.  I knew that I wanted to help people, I wanted to do something when no one else did, I wanted to make a difference and make the world better for some people.  I went to college and had everyone I knew trying to talk me out of being a social worker, "You'll never make any money" is what I often heard.  I stuck with it though.  When I applied to social work graduate school at LSU I had to write a letter of intent, basically asking why I wanted to be a social worker.  I wrote the above story in my letter.  Yes, I don't make a lot of money-in fact Social Work is the worst paying college degree!!  I don't care though.  My job has so many more rewards than money.  I know that everyday no matter how little I am making a difference and that is enough for me.

I continue to keep the Ayres kids in my thoughts and prayers.