Dear Rufus,
Thank you so much for your encouragement and support! It means a lot to me to have a community where I can get positive advice, such a rare thing nowadays. I admire what you do and want to thank you for sharing your talent, expertise and passion with others.
I’m a 17 year old high school student from Midwestern USA, and although I’m on a different continent, the ideas of Life Itself speak to me on many levels. Being a scientist, you managed to describe a better world of tomorrow without the pitfalls of extreme idealism or unrealistic expectations. As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression from time to time, it’s empowering to realize one doesn’t have to be blind and deaf to the challenges facing us to be resilient and productive. So, having emerged from a long spell of depression, I’m ready to choose my path and make a difference. (I hope!)
Ever since childhood I wanted to do something great, to make a change, and this idea stayed with me all through my life. It’s an itch that was always a part of me, and what I need now is to figure out how to best apply my specific talents, inclinations, and energy to serve society. That is why I asked that question, naive as it may sound, I not only want to choose a profession, I want to honor my calling, and my calling was always to contribute to humanity in a meaningful way.
My aspiration was always to be an artist – an author and a singer. I’ve been writing since age 8 and singing since 10 or 11, and although I tried many things and many kinds of arts, these two proved to be my greatest passions. However, I was never interested in any kind of conventional career where art is seen as a mere form of entertainment, whereas I wanted to change the world. I don’t say that to belittle art (your wonderful wife described its role so well!), on the contrary, I mean to restore the image of the artist as a changemaker, as an intellectual, as a Renaissance man, or woman for that matter. That’s why I don’t want to depend on art as a means to make a living, as I want to keep it pure and independent of commerce. (If it takes off, fine, if not – it’s art for the sake of art.)
This brings me to this point – what can I do that will both sustain me and make a difference? I thought of everything – doctor, nurse, environmental scientist etc. but I feel like all those things don’t align too well with my personality. I’m not brilliant in science, but I’m good at humanities, so I feel like I could do better in social change rather than actual hard science of conservation or sustainable development – I simply don’t have the mathematical prowess to do these professions very well. I love nature, and I love people, and I feel like helping one would also help the other – and if I happen to be a people’s person, why not turn my talents into say education, psychology, social work? This seems to sit well with my desire to expand my intellectual capacity, help people and also be able to have a family (I want to be a wife and mother too!), but I wonder if such a field will have a wide enough outreach. It’s not like helping even one person is not great, but I would like to be someone that has a say, has the ability, the authority, so to say, to make as much difference as possible. Of course, in this regard say politics could be better, but I wonder if change starts from the bottom up, (like grassroots movements) or from the top down, like through policy, law and national and international governance? Is it both, and if so, which is superior in the positive impact? Does a top scientist or lawyer or politician make more of a difference than a mother, a social worker, a music teacher, a poet? Who bettered the world more – a Supreme Court justice who fought inequality or an organic farmer who fed the community?
As I’m writing this out, I feel like the answer is – all work is important as long as it’s aimed at doing good… I would love to hear your opinion on this, as you have many roles and I believe you understand the world and society better than many.
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Vereya
