Work and Service in a Changing World
Watch Marshall Vian Summers speak during the Broadcast, Apr 18, 2020.
I think the thing that you need to know is whatever you choose to do in your work Pillar, your line of work, has got to be able to survive times like this because there’s going to more of them. And it has to really be something that serves people, rather than just enriches you or makes you feel safe and comfortable, if you want it to be really meaningful and fulfilling for you and meaningful to other people.
So the times are changing. And so your notions of what stability is needs to change with these times. That’s why it’s important to look at the long view of this and to see this is the beginning of many different kinds of changes that are going to happen. Nobody can predict them all, but some are certain because they have to do with the trend lines of humanity.
So a pandemic has the power to really do massive economic damage all over the world and change the world’s landscape economically. It also has the power to destroy a lot of people if it goes unattended and unresolved.
So think about what you want to give in life, and how you can do that in such a way that your services, your work, will always be needed. If you work in a restaurant or a hotel, a cruise ship, if you work in retail, well those things can be interrupted at any time and can fall away under even minimal disruptions or discontinuities.
So think of the bigger picture about who you are, what you can give and how you can create work that will enable you to provide that service in a way that will be meaningful almost under any conditions.
I would love to see more discussion on the work pillar in the WWC in particular during a time when the economic world seems to be so shaken up. This is an issue that not only the developed but the developing world is going to be facing for years, and perhaps decades to come. What kind of service might be “meaningful almost under any condition?” Healthcare comes to mind, for one, certainly. Agriculture or farming is another. Thank you, Marshall.