We started reading various stories from people who had personally experience a traumatic event in their lifetime. We're learning how people respond to certain situations and why, coping mechanisms, how to overcome what has happened and what resilience means. We're often asked to reflect on the diverse ways people handled certain circumstances and discuss how we think we would have responded to the same situation.
We also explore what it means not only to be a victim of these unfortunate events, but also what it means to be the one talking to sources, getting pictures from the scene, watching these stories unfold right before their very own eyes. Journalists are people with feelings too -- we can only professionally numb ourselves to such a degree until we start feeling the impact of the work we do, the things we cover.
A special guest made an appearance in our class this week -- a photojournalist by the name of Adrees Latif. He talked about his background, his work experience, the stories he's covered, and he even gave us a taste of the work he's done (I strongly encourage everyone to look into his work.) Someone asked him how he copes with the dark stories and events he's covered, what his tips and tricks were for detaching from a wave of emotions. His response: he finds meaning.
My ears perked up immediately when he said this. Everyone's heard variations of that saying, "There's a reason for everything," or "There's meaning for everything that happens" you get the gist. I've adapted this mindset over the years as a coping mechanism to deal with and interpret what goes on around me. I tell myself there's a reason this is happening, there's a meaning to it all, even if I know what that exactly means yet, or even if I don't necessarily believe myself.
The approach Latif took to this really resonated with me. He was genuine about it, and didn't say it just as a cliche. You could tell that he truly believes there is meaning behind the work he does, the stories he captures, why he shares them. I often worry about the feelings people have about me when I tell them I'm studying journalism because of the rep journalists get for being desensitized from emotion. I've personally heard people critique the entire field by saying it's just a business to us and there is little regard for the impact these stories have on the people they affect.
I worry that I'll turn into that kind of person, and that's not why I chose to study journalism. It was comforting to hear someone else in the field say that there's meaning behind what we do, and it's important that we do it. I'm still trying to prepare myself for what it would be like to report on a traumatic event, but I feel much more confident after hearing stories from someone of such high esteem saying this work is important and that there's value to it. I'm looking forward to learning more about how it's done and becoming a more well-rounded journalist because of it.
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