There is something I learned in my life. You can seek out money, you can seek out a family life or you can seek out a job that helps others. These three are competing interests, though. I am a biostatistician, so I get to work on the approval of cancer drugs and help out with the research. It was my balance. It makes good money, but not amazing money, it helps out society, but is not world changing and it gives me time with my family.
There is always a compromise to be made. Your world changing idea is great, but it is extremely time-consuming and usually involves coming up with something that has not been tried before, so no one can really tell you the path.
But in making small changes to help people out, you can do this every day. To quote William Penn, "There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit."
Personally, I think a good idea would be to get an MD. Work with Doctors without borders. It meets most of your criteria of being out there and helping others. Plus, if you ever decide to settle down and have a family, you can translate it quickly to a good job. Plus, if any location needs changing, it is those third world nations.
One thing to remember when moving forward. It is great to think you can help others. But this is a fallacy. You can really only help others temporarily and trying to continue it, is a long tedious and grooling process. What you can do is help others help themselves. The amount one can do is small. The amount that many can do is HUGE. So for anything you want to do in the future, remember to get buy-in and get people behind you.
A lot of people are interested in saving the world, but most people wouldn't try to get a job saving the world. You can find an organisation you are interested in (like Amnesty International, UNICEF, Oxfam) and join up. Maybe write a few articles and get involved in some way.
If this is something you don't rely on for a living, you will have the freedom to contribute in what ever way you want.
Social Science
I heard many colleges have a bad environment but I heard good things about colleges such as Hillsdale or Bridgeport.. In case you have a passion for a subject then go for it but choose carefully your college. But have you considered things like "Peace Corp" or something similar. It seems like you are pretty smart and it is really a great experience to use our abilities and skills (and knowledge) to help others and to find out what is important in life because after all are we not here to help each other?!
Just seek the truth. Otherwise you can be taken in.
Quotes by H.L. Mencken, famous columnist: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed ― and hence clamorous to be led to safety ― by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." And, "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it."
Remember that we have a President that ran on, "Hope and Change." Whether he was sincere or not, he has made changes that have been to man's detriment. And he is leaving a legacy that there is no hope for recovery. Stay away from that!
Always be honest in your dealings with others and, more importantly, with yourself.
What do you want to change the world to?
Try to help people who get thrown off their land in the name of global warming:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/world/...
Or try and fight those who would like the poor to stay poor because if they become wealthier they will emit too much CO2.
Hi Patrick,
I've got to say...I'm incredibly impressed with your goals, and with your question(s). That you have them is a credit to yourself, your family, and your upbringing.
If I were a friend or confidant, I would strongly encourage you to follow your academic goals, but caution you not to think that you have to finish that goal before you embark on trying to make a difference. There are opportunities that surround all of us, every day to make a difference...but most of us aren't looking for them, even though we think we are.
I left home at 16, and within a few months I was homeless. One man, having the heart you seem to aspire to, took me in as part of his family with his wife and daughter. From there, I was able to find work, start school in Junior College, ultimately earning a degree in Computer Science. I served in law enforcement while in school, and have worked in a number of other industries as well. Today, I own my own programming house, and manage a charity who's mission is making the kind of "difference" you seem to want to make. None of that would have happened with out the heart and compassion of that one man who made my success personal for himself and his family.
The mistake I made for a long time was thinking I needed someone else to do this kind of thing with. I spent a lot of time "waiting" for someone to give me direction, and tell me what to do. One day, I met a fella peddling Krispy-Kreme Doughnuts in front of a business, looking disheveled...apparently homeless. I bought a doughnut from him, but stopped to talk with him for a while. Long story short, I brought him home, offered him a shower and a meal, and asked how I could help him. We got him some shelter, and over a year or so, helped him deal with some disadvantages his criminal past dealt him...and today (two years later), he's working two jobs, active in his church, has his own apartment, a car, receives no public assistance of any kind. He completed his felony supervision 7 months ago, and is living a new kind of life. Living free.
A couple of points here...1. I'm very cautious about making contact with people, and have years of experience in law enforcement that help me evaluate risks. 2. I nearly always travel armed (concealed weapons permit holder), particularly when looking for opportunities to help. There can be EXTREME risks in making contact with strangers...and there are predators out there.
My point to you is this. There are opportunities that surround you, even now, to get involved in helping people. I just launched my daughter and I into Habitat for Humanity as a "Daddy Daughter Date" every two weeks to help expose her to direct service, and she also does some SPCA work as well. We also carry canned goods and other supplies that homeless people often need in all of our cars. If we find someone in need and it's safe (public area, daylight, lots of traffic around), we'll stop and offer what we have.
In closing, a few fellas I've helped out chipped in and bought a nice little plaque...small little thing, with the words engraved "He Didn't Have to, But He Did", with a list of their names and some of their achievements engraved below it. I cried when I opened it, because I realized that I had gone a little way toward honoring the love that my friend and mentor who took ME in, and began to fully understand why, despite having so little for himself and his own family...lived with such fullness. I told my wife and daughter, when I pass away, I'd really like nothing more than that phrase as my epitaph. "He Didn't Have to, But He Did." If I can be worthy of that, I believe I will have done well.
1. Opportunity to serve is everywhere around you, right now.
2. If you look down the road for those opportunities, you'll miss the ones right beside you.
3. Your education and career can be the tools, far more than any money you earn...to make a difference.
4. Believe in the dreams of others as strongly as you believe in your own.
5. Never believe how someone looks tells the story of who they are.
6. Never forget when you're helping another, you own neither their success if they make it, or their failure if they fall short. All that is yours to feel good or bad about is whether you served them as honestly and completely as you could. The rest is up to them.
7. We can feel bad for someone's circumstances all day long...but that's just an emotional experience that allows us to feel better because we're decent enough to "feel bad" for someone. It's one thing to be touched by empathy, but completely another to be MOVED by compassion.
You could teach people that CAGW is a complete hoax.
Hi, I am 17 years old and I've had a pretty good life. I live in a wealthy neighborhood and attend a really prestigious school. I will need to pick a college soon, but I have no idea what I want to do yet. I don't want to have an office job, or anything like that. I want to do something that will change the world (for the better). I really want to travel and help people, but on a large scale. Any ideas for what I could major in college? Also I want to do something now. Help the community, volunteer at the hospital or something like that. I'm really interested in helping in the fight for human rights. I'm not a bad student, will be graduating with a 3.5 GPA and have taken
Ap us history
Ap statistics
Ap government
Ap Econ
Ap calc bc
Ap chem
I will also be taking the ap Spanish test without the ap class.
I my family stems back to Poland so I can speak Polish, I can also speak Spanish and understand most of the Slavic languages.
My question is, what could I possibly do in my future keeping in mind:
I want to do something where I can change the world
I want to be part of the fight for human rights.
I want to attend at least a 4 year university.
I want to actually be out in the world
I know this is a lot of stuff that I'm telling you, but I just want to be happy. To do that I want to devote my life to changing the world. I also know how ridiculous my dream career is but if anyone has any idea or tips for me please let me know. Thanks in advance, it means a lot to me to actually be able to get some feedback on this.
