i.d

Purpose and meaning, two qualities that are becoming more and more important to me as im gettin a bit older. A desire to have more than just a job, but a career founded upon purpose, that is meaningful and influential to not only myself but also impacting the world in some way. Such is the future that i strive for. I agree that it is important to any individual regardless of where they come from, that money and a very secure life are attributes that must be achieved and are held as life long dreams. And i have no objections to such values, mostly because we live a society dictated by necessity and a desire for these things, yet, could life be more than just security and a satisfaction of needs. Could life hold greater expectations than the ones we are taught to believe and groomed to perform since childhood.

I was told this story of how two recent Harvard graduates traveled to a small town of 200 people in Mongolia. The town was built on a business of producing and selling milk to the nearby towns, as milk was produced from their local oxes. The problem with the business however, was that the town was located several hours away from the nearest town or city that they sold to, and so after traveling for several hours to the towns, the milk would have gone sour and so the profit would have been minimal. Because of this, these graduates proposed that rather than selling milk, they would teach the townspeople how to produce cheese instead and so they could save much of the sour milk and the unnecessary expeditions. Furthermore, because the cheese would have been produced from these oxes which are only found in the nearby area of Mongolia, such cheese would possess a unique taste and go for a higher price. Finally, these two graduates would bring in international investors creating a higher demand and an influx of money for the town.

Upon reflecting from this story, i wondered how my life could impact people like these graduates could. Not to change the world, but to do something that would could change something. To have a higher purpose than to just live safely and satisfied with the things that are seen as comfortable and luxury.

In reading the news daily and being aware of what's happening in the world globally outside of my little hub of friends and current comfort zone, I have realized that the definition i place on defining my state of living, does not pay justice to what is real for the vast majority of this world. That in living in the top 3% percentile of the population, there is so much more to life than just the things that i know and see. So much that to focus merely on a satisfactory life would be to live life half full, blinded and ignorant of the possibilities and the realities of the world.

I guess in the end, i just want to do something in life that would somehow make a difference in this world, and that such action would lead me to feel more than just satisfied and complacent, but would give me meaning and purpose.