For my shadowing experience I attended the Thanksgiving dinner for refugees. Over dinner I learned a few things about the inner workings of being a refugee. That is, I began to see the culmination of all their hard work. The main lesson that could be learned from this shadowing experience were the concepts of community and belonging. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay My first task at the event was to help people in attendance get food. At first glance, I was disappointed with the work assigned to me during the event. I had felt like I was simply a “free job” that one of the many busy middle-aged social workers could use to assist them with dinner preparations. However, as time passed in line, I began to learn much more about the future effects of the experience. I found myself talking more and more as people passed through the line. At first I just asked: “Hi, do you want some couscous?” After a while, however, it became clear that I should not work for the refugees, but with them. As I thought about this, my question suddenly becomes, “How are you?” What happened was that I noticed the block between me and the refugee, a block through which I was trying to find a way out. By asking the refugees how they were doing, I invited them to accept my recognition. In other words, I was trying to start conversations and show that I wasn't simply an American there to give them something. The experience was only enriched after dinner was served. I watched the people of the world sit together and eat. My heart was moved by the harmonious beauty of this little church. Many people have expressed the wish that the whole world could come together and be peaceful. To my surprise, this is what was happening right in front of me. There was no hatred or discrimination. In fact, I think everyone felt connected to the population in the room. This community, so vast and intricate, did things that top politicians around the world could never do. They were not simply talking to each other, but were highly engaged with each other. After eating my plate of food, I lost sight of the person in charge of the event since they were most likely busy with all the people in the room. So I decided I needed to find something to do instead of sitting on my hands. At the back of the room was the children's area, which is where I decided to head. Here I found myself inundated with kids who wanted to do nothing but play and laugh. Even in these children I saw a community and mutual respect. They were young enough that discrimination wasn't real to them. In my opinion, discrimination is a learned social construct. That is, we perceive that discrimination is practiced and therefore becomes part of our identity. For example, let's consider the concept of white racism against blacks that our country has long struggled with. As a child, I remember learning about slavery and thinking to myself that I had never seen the difference between me and the black kids in my class. Of course later I started to notice the differences; I started to put a margin between people “like me” and “not like me”. From this, discrimination manifested itself in me. I decided a long time ago to be against discrimination, but I still found it to be something in me that I try to take note of, increasing its social influence on my identity..