Jin Kwon Kim is a well known and loved elder brother in the New Jersey community, who has been attending UTS for the past two and a half years. Born in Brazil, he speaks conversational Portuguese, though he grew up in New Jersey from the age of three. A graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design's five-year program, he works as an architect, but his nights and weekends are committed to taking care of his younger brothers and sisters. He serves as coordinator for the upper class high school Sunday School and as an advisor to the New Jersey "WAIT" program. In addition, he organizes the youth program "Go!" every Saturday night.

Marlo Starr had the opportunity to discuss with Jin Kwon why he chose UTS, what he's gained so far, as well as the role of Second Generation in both the movement and in the world.

Marlo Starr: Why did you choose to go to UTS?

Jin Kwon Kim: To be honest, my parents wanted me to go. My parents were like, "Just take a class." And I was working fulltime, so I could only take one class... I started with a class in DP, and that was really interesting because I'd never fully engaged in the Principle, and I knew there was so much that I needed to learn. Then, I started taking classes that were a little more relevant or topical to what I'm going through right now. The class that I'm taking right now is called "Adolescents and Teens," which is geared toward understanding how teens work... so that I can be more effective.

MS: So, originally you went to UTS kind of reluctantly. Do you feel differently now?

JK: Totally. The classes I take are fascinating. It's essentially an opportunity to learn about the things that we've been, in a sense, force fed, and seeing the reasons why they were so compelling for our parents. It's pretty amazing actually to see how the things we talk about are actually relevant to our lives, which is something that's typically not understood.

It's helping me to understand myself better. It delves into the subjects or the topics that were background information that created all of us - the Divine Principle essentially. You get to see the framework... Instead, of seeing the final product, you get to see the steps along the way.

It's kind of like you see this nasty food that you don't want to try, but when you try it, it's delicious.

MS: You got involved in the community only pretty recently. What prompted you to take a leadership role?

JK: I was never really engaged in anything in the church. For me, it wasn't an abnormal thing to be a little bit distant. Up until college, even up until a couple years ago, I placed much more emphasis on my friends. I had some really deep experiences, and I pretty much transformed my life... If you want to take responsibility for your life, it will happen. If you consistently are afraid to or don't want to face up, then you drag it out until you're dead. I was at a place in my life where I wanted to take responsibility. I think I'd just had enough. I wanted more, and I knew that if I wanted more, I'd have to take responsibility for that.

(UTS has) given me some insights that I would not have been able to get otherwise. It's very different from life in general. I mean you're studying theology, you're studying teaching methodologies - whatever it is that you're interested in. That's not something I come into contact with at all, anywhere, in work and in church. In that way, it totally opened a new door that I didn't really know existed before.

What UTS does is -- it takes the things you learn and it's much more focused, and it's concentrated. If you were trying to find those things in regular life or church, you would have to search much longer; it's more dilute. But at UTS, you get this experience where people have actually taken the time to accumulate all this knowledge into a semester. That's essentially what a textbook does; you don't have to live a hundred years to know what happened in those hundred years... It's a much more accelerated process.

MS: Do you feel like UTS is more for those who want to be church leaders?

JK: I think going to UTS is going to impact your life regardless of what you do. If you want to be comfortable with who you are, you should go to UTS. It'll give you a deeper understanding of who you are as a BC. Whether you like it or not, you're a BC, 'til the day you die. (Laughing) If you want to feel comfortable in your own skin, you have to confront it at some point and time... A lot of my friends are totally in denial, they're perfect candidates... to go on a search to find out who they really are, and when they can get to that point, then UTS can be a vehicle through which they can come to a deeper understanding of that. So yes, I would say UTS would be for anyone even if you're not going to be a church leader. Like, I don't want to be a church leader.

As Second Generation we are meant to inherit the mission that our parents had... Another side is to alleviate God of His pain. Another thing is to take care of our younger brothers and sisters. Another thing is to take responsibility of our lives, and I think that's one major issue - not just BCs, but people of the world do not take responsibility for their lives. But when a BC understands his responsibility, that is such a gift. A BC is representative of all humanity and when that BC can take full responsibility for his or her life, all humanity is represented in that. Because everyone here is meant to be in that position.

MS: If you could say in short what Second Gen. are supposed to do, I guess in a more substantial or practical sense, what do you think we're supposed to do for the world?

JK: Be representatives of True Parents.

What I mean by that is that whatever it is that you decide to do, whether you become a dentist or you become a journalist or you become whatever it is that you are, take the ideals or the concepts or the values that True Parents are trying to put in place or what they're trying to create and then bring that to that field.

Each field has its own manifestation of God in it, but until that aspect of True Love, True Life, and True Lineage enters that field, that field will never realize its full potential; it'll be - not even a shadow of itself. It's only when that kind of stuff happens that each field, each thing that people do whether it be accounting, whether it be lawyering, whatever, the depths to which that can go becomes infinite. Literally, the possibilities just start to unfold and unravel... The world will be transformed.

We're not all meant to be state leaders. Our parents were meant to detach themselves, rip themselves out of their lives and give it all away, so that they could create this new lineage... Whereas they had to deny everything that they had, we should have a totally different mindset, a different approach to the way we do things. We're coming from a different direction, so we're supposed to enhance the things that they were repressing... If you can create from God's point of view, go with it, and it's going to be an amazing thing that you do too. MS: Last question, what would you say is the most valuable thing you've gained from your experience at UTS?

JK: The realization that I know almost nothing. Because that has created and opened so many doors that I didn't even know existed. And that's a great thing. I don't even know what's hiding behind that door. There's doors that lead down certain paths that have potential to be untapped reserves of strength or knowledge that I have inside me that I didn't know about.