Responsibility and Satisfaction

Service to Self vs Service to Others

Earlier this spring, I gave a motivational speech at the Kennebunk High School Graduation breakfast about responsibility and satisfaction. “You may play sports, engage in adrenaline activities or flirt on-line to feel better in your body. However, nothing beats the look in another's eyes when you have done something good for them. It's a thrill.”

My 89 year old mother knows this well and has spent a life engaged in service to others. She bakes bread and shares it with the neighbors, checks on the homebound, delivers flowers from her garden to the infirm and attends church in participation. We talk by phone twice a day and she inspires me.

Marianne Williamson has this same commitment to others. It’s a sense of responsibility. It’s wholesome. She could be spending time with her new grandchild but has chosen to attend the larger culture.

In her book A Politics Of Love she writes “There's a bigger question in life than “How am I doing?” And that's “How are we?”

Many of the graduating seniors I spoke to that morning had been in my After School Adventures Program For Youth. These were budding naturalists, artists, explorers, athletes and ecologists. I see their confidence and how they have matured in to young adults who will be of benefit to our society. They are ready.

And now, so am I.