Operation Exodus vs. Merrill Lynch

Well, I’m writing this because apparently Jonathan and others want to hear about it, but I’m thinking to myself “What should I say?” It’s not that words or images aren’t coming to my mind and I have writer’s block or whatever, but really it’s quite the opposite. There’s simply too much to talk about and writing the experience in attending these two internships in one week (which I've only done once so far btw) in less than the length of a book is difficult, but I’ll try :). This is a compilation of a week's worth of thinking and typing, so hopefully this will be enjoyable for you to read, hah.

Comparing Exodus to ML is like comparing black to white, but not really. On one side, I’m dealing with young professionals and interns who are all relatively well-educated and who all come from middle-class+ families. On another side, I’m dealing with under served children who perform 2-3 grade levels below national standards and who come from below poverty level families. However, whichever side I’m on, I find myself surrounded by people who do not know God – people who, regardless of their wealth, education, family backgrounds, societal status, etc. through the eyes of Jesus deserve the grace and mercy of God just as much as any of us believers do.

At Operation Exodus, God’s work is in the process all the time. The kids (though they themselves may not realize it) experience injustice in many forms. They’re growing up in an environment both at home and at school that I think many of us aren’t familiar with. I mean, just as an example, youth teams from churches come to this specific program to "help" these kids. Imagine if that had happened to you when you were in elementary or middle school. What would you feel like or what would be running through your mind when you see volunteers come and go every week of the summer? Also, what kind of "help" do these children need? Many of these children don’t even speak English at home, so this is one of many disadvantages for them to overcome at school. Many of these children live in poor families, so they don’t have the resources to expand their knowledge and most likely don't have a chance to move above the poverty level. Many of these children aren’t pushed or challenged by their teachers or mentors to step outside of the box, so they will most likely stay in the Heights for the rest of their lives and have kids that will probably go through the same cycle. Ultimately, I believe these kids need an enormous amount of help in terms of worldly standards, but I also believe Christ is the biggest help these children can receive. Hopefully what we, the staff members and the volunteers, are doing is helping these children see the door to a Savior, a Healer. Hopefully when I'm there, God is using me to be a light even though I'm a chinese guy awkwardly placed in a latino-dominated classroom. I can only pray that God does His thing.

At ML, I work with full-timers and other interns who all come from middle class families or above. For those of you who have/are working in a professional corporate setting, surely you can agree with me that most of these people are relatively smart and knowledgeable and have ambitions that are relatively limited to only the privileged. For the most part, they've all been well-educated growing up and have attended decent to well-known universities. Each of them has a chance to make six digits easily and can achieve worldly success in the eyes of their peers. However, can money and worldly success give enough meaning to life and grant happiness to all of those who have it? I honestly believe sooner or later, these individuals will start to wonder if there's more to life than just success. The only reason I say this is because I've seen it, I've experienced that sense of feeling coming from them. I'd like to believe they're smart individuals who can think for themselves about issues such as gay rights, politics or religion. For example, most of my team asks me "how was your weekend" or "how is your week so far" and I tell them the truth - I've been working with under served children or with homeless people and living the Heights. Most of their responses were: "You mean Washington Heights? Isn't that a not-so-great neighborhood??" and I'm like "yep..." and I explain what I'm doing and every single one of them responded positively or even commended me. The question I ask when I'm at ML is what can I do to serve and witness to them when I'm only a summer intern? Just as with the Exodus children, I hope that I can help these individuals see the door to the God of this universe and I can only pray that God does His thing here too.

To me, comparing Exodus to ML is like comparing black and white in terms of worldly standards, but in terms of God's standards they're both places filled with people who do not know Christ. Despite what some of you may think, the young professionals I encounter actually have morals. I think there’s a common misconception that all the people working in banks or financial services industries are working for their personal wealth and ambition and worldly success. No. I think that statement can be true in various degrees for many of the individuals, but to generalize and say that all of them, for example, don’t even care about social welfare or the poor is ridiculous. Many of them have families. Would it be unfair to say they’re working for the money in order to allow their families to live comfortably? Is that bad morals? My boss hosts a golf tournament every year where all proceeds and donations go to cancer research. Does that surprise you? I think they’re just like the children at Exodus in the sense that they need direction - a direction that points towards God.

Whether if I look to my left and see under served children or look to my right and see financially strong intellectuals, I'm only trying to look towards the third way, the middle way - the way Christ would view both of these societal groups (which is not children who need tons of help or superior intellectuals who have it all). Because the fact of the matter is, both of these groups of people can still feel satisfied and content with their lifestyle even if we (believers) don't think they would simply because they don't know Christ or because we see them drop out of school. This is one characteristic that they both share. And another shared characteristic is that whether you're a businessman in a suit or some no-name at the very bottom of society, Christ views you as a sheep that needs to be shepherd towards His right hand side. My opportunity in being able to intern at both of these places has given me the experience and the sight of what one of the realities of this city is really like, and what God's kingdom on earth can look like.