One should only do what they are truly passionate about. Be it writing, singing, dancing, healing, baking or solving. There are those among us who are forced into situations, into choices by necessity or disillusion. They think it is the right thing to do and the right way to do it. In the process, they are unable to continue working for their chosen cause with fervor or any joy. It becomes a daily struggle, a strain to complete day-to-day tasks simply because it is required of them, not because they want to do it.
All of us have ventured down this uneven path at one time or the other. Sometimes we are smart enough to realize this is not for us and other times we are unable to see how tedious something may become for us and not for another. If we can wise up, we can change our route. Move towards something better and rewarding and in the long run perhaps attain happiness. It can take some time, maybe even decades till one can isolate what they would be happy doing for the rest of their lives.
Until then, the mad race of academics rages on. The right hook of resumes and left hook of emotional blackmail seem to battle it out in the environment around us. Changing paths and alliances because of your relationships is frankly embarrassing and juvenile. Deciding to support an organization because everyone else around you is writing it down on their CV is a bad reason. There is no doubt that you may be very helpful, that your support may be integral. But once you leave, once you are not around anymore can that organization sustain itself? Can it manage to meander through time and continue to exist with the same zeal if not more?
In all probability, maybe not. It has been my personal experience, that if someone is enchanted by an idea and is enamored by its existence in their life then that idea will not only succeed it will continue to endure through to the end as long as other lovers follow their heart to it. Philanthropists, entrepreneurs, social activists, businessmen and their successful counterparts have one thing in common- their passion for their chosen field.
What I see around me frightens me at times. I see people championing a cause because they feel obliged to do so. Ask them a question about the cause, and watch them flounder. I see people joining others to add another bullet point to their resume and then to just barely get by. I see my friends guilt everyone around into donating, or joining an event simply heeding the here and now. Noone seems to be doing anything because they want to, or because they believe in it. I fear that many of the changes we tout will become blurred over due course, and their effects will die away with them as time passes. And I hope I am incorrect.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed a community for a lifetime.