We may remember the scene in the 1967 Disney version of Jungle Book where the group of Beatles-looking vultures sit and discuss what they should do, culminating in one of them becoming very frustrated and saying, “First I say, ‘What we gonna do?’ Then you say, ‘I don’t know, what you wanna do?’ Then I say, ‘What we gonna do?’ You say, ‘What you wanna do?’… ‘What we gonna do?’… ‘What you want...’ Let’s do something!” Such a scene perhaps echoes words of teenagers nowadays, wondering what they are going to do not just there and now but also in the future with their lives.
Guest speakers at school speech days will often exhort youngsters in that regard to dream big, to reach for the stars, to be ambitious. The English novelist, Anthony Trollope, wrote that “It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the parent of all enterprise, and the cause of all improvement” while Steven Brust put it bluntly in saying that “A young man without ambition is an old man waiting to be.” People must have ambition, they say.
But do we have to have ambition? Should we be promoting ambition? Will we get nowhere if we do not have ambition? What should we be teaching our children, to help them find a career that will satisfy and fulfil all their dreams and wishes? It is an interesting thought. Someone has said that “we may not have to go after what we want; sometimes it comes to us” while Rivaldo, one of Brazil’s greatest ever soccer players (who won the World Cup, the Champions League and many other titles, including winner of the Ballon d’Or) stated that “As a poor child, the idea of one day being … a world champion with the Brazilian national team, it never crossed my mind. My dream was just to be a professional for Santa Cruz.” How come he achieved all that success without being ambitious?
Various writers have given what might be seen as a clue. Joseph Conrad, the novelist, wrote that “All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind” while Petrarch, centuries before, declared that, “Five enemies of peace inhabit with us - avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.” Ambition can be dangerous, as it uses, and affects, others.
Instead of ambition, what we should be encouraging our youngsters to have is firstly Vision and secondly Values. For them to have vision, they need to find purpose in life – as William Barclay, the theologian, once said, “The two greatest days are the day you were born and the day you discovered why”. On top of that they need to gain belief, then add passion with an element of perspective. After all, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Alongside vision, though, they must have values, with special emphasis perhaps on Humility, Empathy, Availability, Respect, Trust (an acronym of HEART). Who people are is far more important than what they do.
Martin Luther King Junior, the great human rights advocate, spoke powerfully when he said: “Whatever career you may choose for yourself — doctor, lawyer, teacher — let me propose an avocation to be pursued along with it. Become a dedicated fighter for civil rights. Make it a central part of your life... It will give you that rare sense of nobility that can only spring from love and selflessly helping your fellow man. Make a career of humanity. You will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country and a finer world to live in.” King added, “Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” On another occasion, he said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Many others agree. Leo Tolstoy proclaimed that “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” Albert Einstein noted that “Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” Maya Angelou in more recent times said, “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” Henry Van Dyke, “There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.” Is that not what we should be teaching our youngsters? A career of humanity. We are not vultures; let us do something. Find a calling, not a career.
- I also have a dream
- Is America ready to elect a black woman president?
- Make a career of humanity
