POWERLESS

This photo represents hopelessness. Hopelessness deals with the breaking of the mind, the body, and the spirit. It doesn’t just deal with one aspect; we are working with all three aspects of youth and environment.  The environment is tearing down their mind, body, and spirit, therefore we can’t focus on just one area; we must work on all areas to be successful, especially with the youth today.  The bars symbolize total hopelessness because it breaks the mind, the body, and the spirit of the individual, which emphasizes the need to invest in our youth. It is common for those who are oppressed to engage in personalization and self-blame. A strategy for counteracting self-blame is re-attribution. This involves considering all the likely causes of negative emotions. Individuals of every age need to believe that they can be shapers of the story of their life. When that need is thwarted, when one feels incapable of navigating one’s way toward desired goals, a feeling of powerlessness can set in.