“I reflected upon my own life and thought that I should live more gratefully”
Submitted anonymously by L.T.
1. What is your job?
I was a youth pastor and was recently a paraprofessional for one of the special ed student. I am currently enrolled in a programming bootcamp trying to change my career into web developer.
2. How long have you been in this job?
I’ve been a youth pastor for one year and a paraprofessional for another half a year.
3. What motivated you to be in this work?
Education, youth, and faith are all aspects that I cherish in my life. I moved to New Jersey from California when I was around 12 years old. Ever since then I was never good at making friends or being able to socialize with my peers, but luckily for me there were nice teachers, school classmates, and staff from the youth ministry who helped me be involved in different activities. For example, I was invited to be in chess club, Latin club from school and for youth ministry, the staff that was taking care of our grade consistently invited me to play in an organized event like sports, online games, and sometimes service projects.
Being invited and feeling cared for by the community, I naturally wanted to become someone that can also care for others. To be the one that can invite others to either a club or an activity and enjoy time together.
However, I realized that being a youth pastor or a paraprofessional, although being a youth pastor and a paraprofessional fits the desires and goals of my personal life, it wasn’t enough in terms of supporting my family and being able to contribute to many others financially. I have a little bit of background in mathematics and technology, so I decided that I am going to give a tech career a try. I figured that although I may not be able to be a youth pastor and a paraprofessional for few years. I can be involved in youth ministry in a different way and maybe later in the future I can become an engineering teacher or programming teacher one day.
4. How would you describe yourself: age, generation, first language …
I am a second-generation Japanese American. My parents immigrated to United States in the 1980s and I was born in the United States. Sometimes I feel more Japanese than American because of the things I like (baseball, anime, j-rock), and because my first language is Japanese.
I think my generation is lucky. I have heard stories about how the 1940s to around 1970s were tough and how Japanese neighborhoods died due to Japanese Internment Camps and racism, but it has died down significantly and maybe it’s because of the neighborhood I was in, I never felt like I was ostracized.
5. What is the ONE thing that stood out to you about COVID? Or, one experience that you would like to describe in detail.
COVID-19 has been a ruthless force that not only forced us to change our livelihood but also forced us to say farewells to our friends and acquaintances. Fortunately for our family, none of us has ever caught COVID-19, but unfortunately many of our family friends, acquaintances and personal friends have either caught it this year. Until I reflected upon it, I haven’t realized how bizarre the past year has been. I remember attending funerals once a month in the past year. Funerals used to be once a year, or maybe once in a few years thing but now it became once in a month and at times twice in a moth thing. It was scary to see so many of our friends and acquaintances lose their lives over COVID-19 or health complications which the COVID situation made it worse. At COVID peak times our family had to attend the funeral virtually, which seemed so odd at the time. I truly felt that life is short, and I reflected upon my own life and thought that I should live more gratefully. It really was scary to see how a person’s life can move on so quickly. One month ago, my friend or acquaintance was alive and well but the next month I’m attending their funeral.
6. In what ways did COVID change your daily routine? Were there good changes?
One new thing for me despite being an Asian is wearing masks. In Japan, wearing mask is a common thing, and I think I more or less see Japanese person or Korean person wearing masks even in United States, but for me it was something that was uncomfortable. Overall though, I believe that the mask protected me as I go to many different places.
One other change, that was beneficial for me was that most of my meetings, events, and appointments were held over zoom. Being able to meet virtually saves a lot of time, and work in a more comfortable environment. However, sometimes I do miss being able to physically meet with another person.
I appreciated the tradition that my family brought from Japan, which was to always wash hands right after you arrive home and clean your throats by gurgling with salt water. I am a little unfamiliar with the science behind gurgling your throats, but I think it provides additional protection (but maybe not).
7. What would you like future generation to know about what you’ve learned living through the COVID pandemic?
For the future generation, pandemic is scary and it is devastating so let’s do all our part in protecting ourselves, so we can all hopefully live a little longer. Although, there are many things that are crazy, and unfair, let’s not forget to appreciate the things that we can appreciate about, even the smallest thing. Because life can be short.