Reflecting on 'Helping Others' After Watching the Film 'Adam's Sin' | Inclusive Society ③

I watched the film 'Adam's Sin'.

The runtime is about 80 minutes. Most of it takes place inside a pediatric ward, with the camera following the nurse, Lucy.
There are no major scene changes or dramatic staging.

Even so, I was overwhelmed.

This is because the film highlights the harsh conflicts that exist before the seemingly simple act of 'helping others'.

A mother who refuses help

Adam, a 4-year-old boy, is brought to the hospital.

He needed to eat. However, his mother, Rebecca, refuses to accept the hospital's judgment.

The mother's words and actions clearly seem to be putting Adam in danger. To protect Adam, he needs to be separated from his mother.

However, as you watch the film, you realize that the mother herself is also in need of help.

She has been raising Adam on her own. She cannot trust others and has reached her physical and mental limits. She has lost the capacity to even admit that she needs help.

The perpetrator and the victim.
The child who must be protected and the mother who causes problems.

It is not possible to simply separate them like that.

Lucy conveys to the mother through various actions:

'I want to help you.'

However, that wish continues to be rejected.

An unrequested consultant

Recently, I have been feeling this way:

'If the client has no will, a consultant cannot provide support.'

In one project, I was involved in corporate transformation.

I want to create a state where not only are strategies built, but the people working there can feel that 'this organization is changing.'
With that thought in mind, I have engaged in repeated dialogues with my clients.

However, as the project neared its end, the client's attitude shifted to, 'If we keep going like this, we should be able to reach our numerical targets.'

Yet, I was left with a sense of unease, wondering if this would truly change the organization.

Should I have pushed deeper?
Was there still more to discuss?

There was a part of me that thought so, while another part wondered, 'Isn't forcing something the other party doesn't want just self-satisfaction?'

What it means to help

Lucy never gave up on helping Rebecca until the very end.

Protecting the child right in front of her.
Being convinced that the mother herself was also in need of help.
Not dismissing her as a 'problematic mother' even when rejected.

And in the final scene, Rebecca accepts the hand Lucy offers for the first time.

Until now, I believed that if the other person wasn't asking for help, I couldn't help them.

However, there might be something to consider before that.

What is the other person afraid of, and what are they trying to protect?
Are they refusing help, or are they in a state where they cannot ask for it?

I believe that helping someone means trying to see the pain hidden behind their words.

And it means staying involved without looking away until the other person is able to ask for help.