Goodbye, Domestic Equity

For the past 8 months, I've been working in the Domestic Equity group at State Street.  On Wednesday they announced that I'll be transferring to a new group this coming Monday, and getting [upgraded?] from a temporary status to full-time.

It's been a good 8 months.  I've learned a lot, made friends, had a lot of boring days, busy days, and fun days.  Yesterday felt much like the last day of a semester; I'll still be at the same school, but all the material and classmates will change.

I gave my farewell speech yesterday to the group.  I was very nervous and fumbled a lot, but overall it was well-received.  Earlier this week, these words from God to Moses in Exodus 4 were encouraging to me: "The Lord said to him, "Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Well, without further adieu, here's the text of the speech I gave.  Enjoy!
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When I was a kid, there was a time when I wanted to be a police officer.  My other friends wanted to be firefighters, astronauts, doctors.  I don’t think any of us grew up saying “Daddy, I want to be a fund accountant when I grow up!”…  except, maybe, Dan's [Dan is my boss] kid.  We wanted to do something good, something noble, make a difference in the world.

But while few go into the financial world hoping to make a positive difference, it’s our world that has, arguably, done the most harm in recent years.  Our field can make a difference, for better or for worse.

There are good cops, and there are bad cops; there are good accountants and there are bad accountants.  How can we regain that childhood dream of making the world a better place, regardless of the job we’re doing?

The Bible describes life as a stream of water, and the heart as the spring from which those waters flow.  So whether we’re in Dom Eq or Intel, CalPERS or CalSTRS, if our hearts are good, our lives will be good too.  Maybe not PPR good [yearly performance review], but the kind of good you’d be proud to tell your kid about.

Thank you all for your kindnesss during my time here, you’ve all been very good to me.  Thank you.