Mom, Dad, and Sam Know Best- Jenny Heffernan

A very wise man (or woman) once remarked on the beauty of a child’s innocence. A presumably equally wise person commented on the importance of experience. My mom and dad, perhaps the wisest of all, have told me to forget what other people have said, and figure it out on my own.
And… figure it out I did. At the very least, I am attempting the task, using an interesting combination of intuition, deduction, and random valuation skills picked up along my academic career at our beloved Duke. Revealing the oft-mentioned “nerd within” that is said to dwell in each Duke student, my confusion surrounding the merit of naiveté has taken the form of an internal cost-benefit analysis, known to us Public Policy majors by the ever cool abbreviation, CBA. With each experience in Nola, my own personal innocence is made strikingly obvious, and I resultantly alter my CBA to reflect my observations.

At work, for example, I have found my lack of experience somewhat hindering. Upon arrival at the NOHD, I anticipated a summer of changing the world- or, at the very least, New Orleans. Taking in the busy office, I envisioned myself re-opening the multiple health clinics still closed due to Katrina, single-handedly. I was going to be able to practically run this office come August. Then, however, came reality, aka my first staff meeting. There, I became painfully aware of the foolishness of my thinking. Did I really think I could simply just re-open a clinic? Clearly, there are political, financial, and logistical barriers to that which I thought manageable. Why had I thought that I, an undergraduate student with relatively no experience, would be able to accomplish that which the bevy of degreed professionals in the Health Department had not? An entry for the “costs” category was made.

Taking the form of a counter-argument strong enough to get any academic’s heart racing, the benefits of innocence have been equally convincing. On the 4th of July, this benefit took the shape of Sam, a precocious 11 year-old reveler at the St. Bernard Parish festival. Speaking candidly with me about the storm, Sam remarked, “Things were really messed up. But they’re better now. They’re great. I’m always going to live in New Orleans; who’d want to miss out on this?” Ignoring, or perhaps simply unaware, of all of the issues plaguing the adults regarding Nola’s future, Sam maintained an unshakeable optimism for, and love of, his home. His attitude, while perhaps ignorant of important issues, provides him, and those like him, the ability to continue into the future; while it may contain things unknown, Sam knows it contains great things. Mark one of the benefits.

While my tally is still developing, I find myself leaning towards Sam’s point of view. Realism may be handy in tackling technical issues, but nothing can be accomplished without some sort of faith that the goal is actually achievable. For now, therefore, my rose-tinted glasses will stay put, for, as a wise man (or boy) once said, “who’d want to miss out on this?”