Pray For Our Pastors

PRESENTATION TO ABC6 MINORITY ADVISORY BOARD (MAY 1999)

On behalf of The Enterprise Center, I want to thank Larry Smallwood and WPVI-TV for inviting me to be part of this important celebration, and all of you for joining with me in celebrating the history, culture, and contributions of Asian-Americans here in Philadelphia. As we gather in this beautiful restaurant and on this festive occasion, I want to invite all of you to join with me in my personal process of seeking a balance. I hope that my own personal exploration into the subject of balance will trigger your own thought process of how to achieve healthy balance in your vocational, social, and personal lives.

I'd like to start by sharing my own journey, and the importance of balance in that journey. I was born in Seattle, grew up in Northern California, went to school at PENN, and have settled in West Philadelphia, where I work at The Enterprise Center at 46th and Market Streets and worship at Woodland Presbyterian Church at 42nd and Pine Streets. I am a second-generation Taiwanese-American. I am hyphenated.

I have lived my whole life as a hyphenated person, sometimes getting the best of both of the worlds I live in, sometimes not feeling at home in either world. Your own journey may be different than mine, but perhaps you can relate somewhat with my struggle to be both Taiwanese and American, to retain the heritage, culture, and language of my family, while embracing new ways and new philosophies on my own. Perhaps you can relate somewhat with my struggle to be both West Coast and East Coast at the same time, both California surfer dude and sophisticated Philadelphia urbanite. Perhaps you can relate somewhat with my struggle to be a faithful follower of Jesus in this society, and one who sees the spiritual side of material things and the material side of spiritual things. I've been accused of being too secular by the religious folks and too religious by the secular folks. I'm hyphenated.

You're hyphenated, too. Your worlds may be different than mine, but you can relate with my struggle, to be in two worlds at once and yet not feel at home in either. Maybe you're struggling to be a good worker and a good father, or mother or husband or wife: you know they go hand in hand, but it seems like everywhere you turn, you're being asked to sacrifice one for the other. Maybe you're struggling to maintain integrity in a job setting that is constantly seducing you into compromising your personal standards. Or maybe you're a dreamer like me, and you're trying to reconcile your youthful agenda to save the world with the reality of violence, moral decay, and tragedy that is taking place in our communities and in our society. You're hyphenated.

We're all hyphenated. What can we do about it? I'm sure you've heard people talking about "seeking a balance," maybe so much so that those words have become hollow and empty. What does it really mean, "seeking a balance," and how does that help me as a hyphenated person? I'd like to share three aspects of "seeking a balance" which I've tried to practice in my life; perhaps they will be useful for yours.

To begin with, "seeking a balance" first means focusing on what you are about. Focusing on what you are about. Maybe you can relate with me when I say I want to start three businesses, get married and raise a family, learn a foreign language or two, travel the world, and brush up on my piano skills . . . all in the next three years. Seeking a balance first means focusing on what you are about. That can be difficult for talented and ambitious people like you and me.

One of the things that challenges me about the life of Jesus is his focus. Here's someone infused with enough talent and ambition to establish new schools and hospitals, lead a military revolution, and find a cure for cancer . . . and yet, instead he focused almost all of his efforts on twelve men, one of whom betrayed him, another of whom denied knowledge of him, and all of whom abandoned him at his darkest point of need; yet these men carried his name and his legacy to the ends of the earth. Jesus was a man of focus. And that challenges me, because as a follower of his, and as someone who isn't nearly as talented or ambitious as he, I'm not nearly as focused.

I'm in the process of re-writing my personal mission statement, and re-aligning my life around it. It's a work in progress, but right now it reads something like this: "I love God, I champion people, I cherish life." Like a corporation, I am examining my current activities and my pursuit of new activities under this new rubric. This approach allows me to maintain my focus and achieve my purposes without being derailed, distracted, or diluted. I challenge you to also take some time to reflect on what your personal mission statement would be. Seeking a balance as a hyphenated person in a chaotic world starts with focusing on what you are about.

Secondly, seeking a balance means accepting failure and rejection. Accepting failure and rejection. You know, that doesn't sound too positive or inspirational. Yet its one of the most popular messages we preach at The Enterprise Center where I work. We're in the business of helping people start businesses, and my job there is to promote entrepreneurship to youth, which we do through business camps, school-based curriculum, and for-profit ventures. We make sure our youth understand that failure and rejection will be part of every step on the ladder of their success in business and entrepreneurship. In every successful entrepreneur's closet are the skeletons of failure and rejection. It is our ability to bounce back from adversity, and our perseverance to maintain true to our vision in the midst of opposition, that prepares us for success in business and entrepreneurship.

Accepting failure and rejection is fundamental to seeking a balance as a hyphenated person. If you want to play it safe, and never venture into new possibilities and new relationships and new worlds, you may not have to deal with failure and rejection. But for those of us who are hyphenated, who live in two worlds, and who juggle oftentimes conflicting priorities, we will face failure and rejection head-on. Again, I invite you to look into the life of Jesus. Because he focused on what he was about, he was able to stay true to his purposes: in the midst of overwhelming popularity, he made controversial and uncompromising demands that shrunk his fan base, and in the midst of crushing opposition, he carried out his stated agenda without wavering. We, too, once we are focused on what we are about, and once we accept failure and rejection, can navigate the complicated waters of seeking a balance as a hyphenated person.

Finally, seeking a balance as a hyphenated person involves embracing diversity. Embracing diversity. Diversity is at once a familiar buzzword that no one would argue against, and at the same time a sensitive and touchy subject. On the one hand, we all recognize the value-added of different people offering different opinions and different perspectives; and on the other hand, we are socialized to only trust people that are similar to us. On the one hand, we understand and applaud the need to open doors for traditionally disenfranchised peoples; and on the other hand, we wonder how empowering it actually is to someone if we are no longer hiring them based on their own merit. What does embracing diversity mean, then, and what does it have to do with seeking a balance?

Embracing diversity means relating to different kinds of people, without acting like you are "one of the guys." As a promoter of entrepreneurship to youth in West Philadelphia, I work predominantly with African-American teenagers who come from inner-city neighborhoods. I'm not African-American, I didn't grow up in an inner-city neighborhood, and I am certainly not a teenager. And I don't try to act like one. But I do try my best to listen, empathize, and show respect. Sometimes my kids think I'm corny because I listen to classical music and read business magazines all the time. That's OK: I just keep on listening, empathizing, and showing respect. My kids understand that I am trying my best to understand them, but that I am not one of them. And it is my hope that with the help of my example, my kids will become leaders who embrace the diversity in the people they interact with, by also listening, empathizing, and showing respect.

Embracing diversity also means valuing others as equals, and as people who have much to offer us and much to teach us. The stereotype of Christians is that we are close-minded and imperialistic, and that we harbor a "messiah" complex that encourages dependency and undercuts empowerment. Sadly, that stereotype is a correct portrayal of our history and our present. But it is not a correct portrayal of our Hero. Jesus spent more time and had more good things to say about the outcasts of society than about the day's religious leaders. He asked for water from a woman of ill-repute from a hated ethnic group. And he cared intimately and uniquely for each individual who he came into contact with.

You may have other role models or heroes; mine is Jesus. You may have other agendas or passions; mine is promoting entrepreneurship and championing youth. You may have different pasts, presents, and futures than I. But all of us can relate to the dilemma of being hyphenated, and all of us can relate to the challenge of seeking a balance in a chaotic world. I urge all of you: Focus on what you are about. Accept failure and rejection. And embrace diversity. Thank you.