In the summer, college students can readily be seen at internships. Such internships are a phenomenally way to gauge a college student’s potential interests or, more importantly, provide a pathway to a full-time job after graduation. No matter how the internship pans out, a great number of lessons can be taken away regardless. One month into my internship, I can fully attest to this, however, it was certainly not what I would have expected.
At the end of last month, I had begun my first internship, incredibly eager to dive into the workload head first. In addition, the office was located right next to the Empire State Building. Walking off the train platform my first morning, I could not have been more excited as it had always been a dream of mine to work in New York City. As I trekked down 34th Street, I sported a bright smile and felt on top of the world. However, something unexpected occurred. Before I entered the office, I saw a homeless man on the street. This certainly wasn't my first time seeing a homeless person, yet something just felt different this time. I had a couple of dollars in my wallet and gave it to him. For the rest of the day, I didn't think much of it again.
The following day, I still felt somewhat awestruck now having a job in New York. I started to ponder all the marvelous places I could explore after my shift that day, however, I was interrupted again by an even more unusual sight, the same homeless man. He was still at the same street corner I had passed by the day before. For some reason, I felt shocked. I didn't expect to ever have to cross paths with him again. This shock was exacerbated by the absence of cash in my wallet. With a heavy heart, I walked by the man unable to give him anything. To make matters worse, I saw at least seven more homeless people sleeping on the street during my walk to work. It was a genuinely depressing and overwhelming sight.
That evening, I remembered sitting on my couch unable to envision anything else than what I had seen in the morning. I could not help but think of those people sleeping on the bitter concrete with malnourished stomachs. Simultaneously, I recognized that for every homeless person whose path I crossed, there were ten more with whom I had not. The prospect of this was simply dismal. However, the following morning I decided to make an important choice.
Ascending the stairs of Penn Station, I walked right through the heart of Manhattan. Right before I entered my building, there was a new homeless man outside of a Starbucks. Before the onset of my workday, I stopped into a Walgreens across the street and bought a couple of sandwiches and assorted fruits. I proceeded to the Starbucks and gave him the food. I knew in that moment that no matter what I did, poverty as a whole would never be eliminated. Nevertheless, that didn't matter. Such overwhelming and dreary realities will never change my ability to make a difference in one person’s life. Regardless of the dark nature of the world, I now firmly believe that everyone has the ability within themselves to make a positive impact, no matter the scale of that impact. That is a lesson I feel blessed to have learned and now have a phenomenally different outlook on the world.
