A Parable and A Real Outcome.
By Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson
One day a young boy climbed to a high place and found and eagle’s nest with eggs in it. He snatched one of the eggs while the eagle was away, he took it back to a farm and placed it under a sitting hen who already had a brood of eggs of her own.
The eggs hatched one by one, and when the eaglet came out of his shell, he had no reason to believe that he was anything other than a chicken. So; he did everything that the other chickens did on the farm. He scratched around the yard looking for grain, he tried his best to cluck, and he kept his feet firmly planted on the ground, even though the fence was just a few feet high.
This went on until he towered over his would-be siblings and his adopted mother-hen. Then one day an eagle flew over the chicken yard. The young eagle heard its cry and saw it swoop down on a rabbit in the field. And at that moment, the young eagle knew in his heart that he wasn’t like the chickens in the yard. He spread his wings, and before he knew it, he was flying after the other eagle.
Not until he had seen one of his kind flying did he know who he was of what he was capable of doing.
This parable is about highlighting that we are all able to do more than we tell ourselves that we can do, and we settle for less than we deserve; it is because striving to be all we can be difficult and it can be filled with naysayers and dis-believers.
This parable is also about what it is like to be trapped within the workers compensation process, trapped by fear and by the false belief that injured workers are unable to be more do more grow more.
Members of the injured worker community are no different to the eaglet or anyone else. They have dreams and aspirations, they have targets to aim for and they have plans to fully fill. There is so much we see every day of people pulling themselves forward when chance meets opportunity. Many of you know me, I am not an exception to the rule of chance meeting opportunity; the only difference between me and multiple others who were injured in the workplace was that when the opportunity to leave workers compensation arrived I decided to stay in order to bridge the gap for others with workplace injuries to be able to leave. If my deciding to stay makes me appear different to others then I am thankful and humbled that others allow me to help. For though this is just who I am and it is just what I do.
Just a few short weeks back 3 such people arrived at Craig’s Table: there was open fear and angst and frustration and confusion. One of the participants said to me “are you for real!! No one helps injured workers!!”
Come forward to now, the participants are well into the training program and their focus has shifted from scratching to make do and just get by to looking to where they are going next, what work they can do and what work they want to do.
The interesting part is before coming to Craig’s Table they did not know each other, they held the inner belief that they were alone in the sea of despair and isolation. Each of them is so very different in personalities and employment backgrounds. But it is possible to see them “look” for each other when they arrive in the morning’s, they rely on each other as workmates and peers. They encourage each other and now with a new group of participants, they are also encouraging the new group to see what they can do and who they can be.
Each participant is encouraged to just be at Craig’s Table, today there was an odd mixture which just added another level of “possibility” to everything.
Today there was one of the first participants, one of the new group and one who was brand new in his own right, he had come in just for a cuppa and a chat as he has no medical capacity at all; however, his medical provider was getting concerned about the isolation this man was living in.
Just getting out of the house and coming to Craig’s Table will assist him to move forward and find new friends and learn what more he can do.
In a few weeks’ time there will be a model railway set to be put together and there will be others for this man to engage with; slowly very slowly and very passively Craig’s Table will ease this participant forward until he reaches the ability to start to engage in the training component.
Just being at Craig’s Table for a short time this afternoon gave him a glimpse of what is on offer and how even when there are tough times, he will not be alone- it may take him a little longer to find his own wings and fly, but he will get there.
As with all programs there is a start and an end date. For the first group of participants they will graduate from Craig’s Table on the 6th July. They will gain a graduation certificate to add to their resumes and when needed they will get a letter of reference from me.
For now; each of them is looking skywards and each of them are building concepts to take into their own morrow.
Who knows where they will end up, what I do know is that they will never again settle for less than they deserve or less than they have to offer themselves, their community or a future employer. It is all unfolding for them and around them.
The new participants are watching the first group closely, they are starting to understand that there is a way forward and that no one can deny a real outcome to any of them anymore. It really will be stand back and see then fly.
Yours in service
Rosemary
Rosemary
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