Part 1
Part 2

One of the reasons I think that I will eventually live that dream of a job that actually makes the world a better place is one word: perspective. When I finished college and my early 20's I did not understand what it really means to work for a living. What it means to decide whether you eat or pay the light bill. What it means to work 50-60 hours a week and not see the sun for 5 days because you come in at 5 am and leave and at 6 pm. Looking back, I can feel fortunate about for some of those experiences, because I have no illusions about what it means to work for a living. I've traveled from idealism to cynicism and am slowly making my back towards pragmatism as far as a living philosophy for how things ought to be.

But even if I never do find that dream job, I've figured out a way to feel fufilled no matter what. While I was in that pit of cynicism and self-hate because of the "wasted years", I came to a real epiphany concerning my "Dreams of Grandeur". It's this, you can make the world a better place in whatever situation you are in. You don't have to be a social worker, priest, missionary, or lawyer to make the world better. Maybe all of this longing I've experienced through the years was actually just a quest for pride and recognition. Why do we only think of noteworthy people as the ones who make the world a better place? Everyone can't be famous, everyone cant be Gandhi, but everyone can be Rosa Parks, or Todd Beamer, everyone can be a great aunt or uncle, everyone can be a Sunday school teacher, or volunteer at a humane society.

The maxim of "Think Globally, Act Locally" is really a good one. Whatever good you and I can do at an everyday level makes the world better. Whether it's being kind and efficient to the people that I deal with at the call center, to spending time with my family and making real friendships with others around me, I can change the world locally for the better, whether I ever make it into a more noble profession or not.