But why do Giraffes like Neto do what they do, taking risks and working hard to help other people? When we ask Giraffes this question, many of them tell us, in so many words, that this is a foolish question. The problem was right in front of them, they’ll say, and nobody else was acting—so what else were they supposed to do?
The more you talk to them the clearer it gets that Giraffes are motivated by a strong sense that what they’re doing is meaningful to them—that is, that it satisfies a personal sense of purpose at the core of their being. And that meaning comes from being of service, of helping solve tough public problems, making life better for other people. It is exactly the same lesson I learned at the United Nations, fighting against racism in South Africa.
It is the same lesson for you. Nothing is more important than living a meaningful life. The surest way to a meaningful life is to be of service, to care for other people, to help solve problems that hurt them.
How can you serve?
There are plenty of problems to work on. Look around. There is hunger and homelessness in your community. There are environmental problems, like the pollution in Puget Sound.
Work with your classmates on projects organized here at school. Or create projects after school with family members, after-school groups or church groups.
I don’t know what specific problems you should work on. You have to find them yourself. But I’m convinced that every one of us has and will have unique opportunities to make a difference, if only in small and quiet ways. A successful life is about spotting those opportunities and acting on them.
What I tell my own kids and now grandkids is that the only mistake you can make is to ignore this search, to just look out for Number One, to live your life without every having at least tried to make a difference.
Service is not a one-shot deal. It’s a lifetime thing. And it’s a lot more than just volunteering or working for a nonprofit group.
You might someday, for example be of service by working in government to help solve public problems. You might serve in business, making good, needed products that are produced by employees who are treated fairly. You might serve as a scientist, a teacher, or an artist. I hope you will serve as a member of a community and as a citizen. You can serve anywhere.
You may end up making a lot of money and becoming powerful. Good for you. But it’s my experience, and the experience of many Giraffes, that you won’t find the meaning you seek in money or power. You’ll find meaning in using your wealth and power—and skills and experience—to be of service, to help solve important public problems, to make life better for other people.
Of course, all along the way there will be enormous temptations to ignore all this stuff about meaning and service. It’s easy to see a problem and just hope that somebody else will fix it. It’s easy to get distracted by shallow things—our lives can get so busy and so cluttered.
And you can get overwhelmed by a commercial culture that seems to say that we are important only because of what we can buy. All around you, every day, there are constant messages that your life will be perfect if you have this cool car, that knock-em-dead shirt, the right music—always something you have to buy.
Other messages tell you that what’s important is what celebrities do.
There’s just a lot of clutter that can knock you off focus.
Don’t let that happen. Look beyond what is loud and shallow. Find the problems that concern you, large or small. Ask what can you do about them, with the skills, resources and energy you have, not in twenty years, but now. Tackle the problems that you’ve found with everything you’ve got. See the impact you can make.
