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I stared blankly at the lengthy application for the program that could possibly land me an advertising internship in a major city. If I passed the phone interview and someone liked my application, I would be chosen. I especially winced at the video component and writing a 360 advertising campaign. Both were new to me. But I realized I had better get used to new because I would be graduating in 8 short months. Being a big fan of long-term thinking and delaying gratification, I decided this program was more up my alley than I thought. Here's the story:
A boy was born as the third child to a mother who was told she could no longer have children (being already 37). The mother had set out a dozen or so years previously to save the world but ended up falling in love instead, which in a world so lacking of love is a small way to save it. The couple made no waste of time and returned to their homeland to be wed. A dozen or so years later, they resolved again to serve rather than save the world and journeyed to impoverished Oaxaca Mexico as missionaries. There they did much good and God blessed their service with two boys. The latter of whom this narrative concerns. For this boy was given them on Christmas and so named "Gift from God", or Matthew. So it was decided that this boy would be a gift unto the world and serve it in a manner like his parents.
Fast forward one score later and this boy is anxiously uncertain over the course of his future. He has discovered a gift within himself of writing and plying his imagination. He has further uncovered the light of music within himself and practices the piano with a passion. But his vocation, ah that is something greater than one's gifts, remains much in the shadows. He prays most often for guidance. He has chosen Marketing as a way to express his creativity in business. There was a mentor at his university who took it upon herself to help him discern his permanent vocation. It was decided that he would always create positive messages to improve others' quality of life no matter his job. It was this mentor who made him aware of an internship program.
It happened as a matter of serendipity that the program required a multicultural background and this young man has a proud Mexican citizenship. The application was rather lengthy and writing-intensive. But he embraced the challenge, surpassed the challenge, and secured a copywriting position in a New York advertising agency. If there was anywhere in need of positive messages, he thought it would be New York. If he might serve anywhere, if there were anyplace where he might make a gift of himself, it would be New York. How he would do this he did not know. But you should ask him sometime. He is always happy to share his stories. For they too are gifts.