Why the 21st century brings more opportunities for doing well by doing good

My name is Luke. I’d like to do my part to save the universe from the dark side. But I’ll settle for rescuing this world first. As my initial act, I’ll scrap any more predictable comparisons between me and that whiny Jedi from the movies. You’re welcome.

Like many of my kind, I’m a sucker for documentaries that highlight the world’s different social and environmental problems. I devour films about poverty, resource depletion, corporate and political shenanigans, the flawed food system and injustice. This habit makes the world seem like a very dismal place. And it causes me to believe that I’m not doing enough, which sometimes only draws me closer to the gloom.

I know how it feels to be so fed up with the world—so cynical and numb—that you can’t even smile when a toddler laughs uncontrollably and calls your best friend a hairy monkey.

I know that hollow feeling of sitting in a drab cubicle wondering if the work you do really matters in the grand scheme of things—wondering if you’re wasting most of your waking life on something meaningless or harmful just to eek out a living and a chance at the (North) American dream with its green lawns, wide screen televisions and extra storage units for all the stuff you’ll buy, but hardly use.

For some of us, it’s difficult to ignore the responsibility we feel to be part of the solution. On the other hand, we are also driven to pursue hobbies and find entertaining experiences that bring us enjoyment—often difficult to do without a good paycheck.

And even though we could use our non-work time to volunteer, we typically don’t—because we feel cheated if all of our time is spent doing things for other people. The work we do for our employers often doesn’t satisfy the part of us that needs to be selfish. We don’t feel balanced.

We want to serve the greater good to make our world a better place. We want to serve our talents and selfish interests. We want to serve our employers in exchange for financial compensation and, if we’re lucky, a few good benefits and genuine pats on the back.

How can we wrap these things up into one package so that we don’t feel under-served? Is it even possible? Why can’t we do well for ourselves while also doing good for the planet and each other?

In my quest for answers, these questions have caused me plenty of sleepless nights. So with the help of much more productive research than the practice of counting sheep provides, here’s what I discovered on my latest go-round:

“Stop the world, it’s getting too ridiculous!” (OK, but…)

Sitting in front of the computer and searching for all the reasons why the world needs saving from stupid people is probably not the most productive use of one’s time. It’s incredibly addictive, and it only leads to what you already know: there is simply way too much evidence of idiocy on a grand scale! Trying to digest all of it can make you feel more overwhelmed than a baby mouse who finds itself trapped between the butt cheeks of an overgrown, flatulent cat and a tub of some lonely grandma’s 10-year-old lime jello.

Get stuck in this cycle too long and you’ll be looking for a cabin in the woods to play hermit, when what you really want is a little civilized luxury. And you may never reach your potential for doing good.

If all you look for is the bad, it becomes pretty difficult to recognize anything else. So if you’re going to spend your leisure time being a voyeur of the world while daydreaming about saving it, at least consider looking through windows that frame reasons for optimism.

For instance, an hour or two watching videos from the annual TED conferences should start to convince you that there are enough brilliant people doing brilliant things to justify having hope for the future. But that’s just the beginning…