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ZUBIN SHARMA ’09 Learning to Define Success and Value in Meaningful Service By Zubin Sharma “I slept and dreamt that life was a Joy. I woke and saw that life was Duty. I acted, and behold, Duty was Joy” – Rabindranath Tagore his quote from Bengali scholar Rabindranath Tagore reminds me of the encouragement that Hotchkiss provides us to unite our work with our passion. Throughout our lives, we are constantly asked what we want to be when we grow up. As five-year-olds, it is joy that drives us, so we covet the jobs that seem most interesting and fun: astronauts, actors, NBA players, and so on. As we get older, we realize the statistical improbability and difficulty of successfully entering one of these professions, so we adjust our aspirations accordingly, which often creates a gap between our duty and joy. Yet, why must it be so? Ask current students or alumni why they went to Hotchkiss, and they will likely mention “opportunity.” At the core of “opportunity” is freedom of choice: the absence of constraints in any activity or work we seek. In spite of these circumstances, many
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Above Right: The author, Zubin Sharma, with children at one of his social entrepreneurship locations in India
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A HISTORY OF SERVICE:
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former students fail to connect their work with their passion for two reasons: narrow societal definitions of value, and an inability to fit one’s passions into these limited understandings of value. Hotchkiss teaches students to become global citizens and engage in international development through the various programs it offers. However, although alumni retain these values, they are often diluted by narrow definitions of value that exist outside the walls of Hotchkiss. Although we celebrate Gandhi, MLK, and Nelson Mandela, these activists are less prominent in our history books than the rich and powerful aristocratic families, and more recently, capitalists. Similarly, the media celebrates and focuses on the wealthiest members of society. As a
result, it is natural that we often define success monetarily. However, Hotchkiss both advocates and is structured around a broader definition of success and value, including athletic, artistic, social, and academic dimensions. As we grow older and are forced to make decisions about where we want to work, it is important for us to remember these aspects, and for us to measure our prosperity using more inclusive metrics. It is difficult to define success and value more broadly as long as we apply simplified, binary classifications to define life and work. For example, the non-profit sector is constructed both linguistically and psychologically as the antithesis to the for-profit sector. I might see my duty and joy as the empowerment of underprivileged chil-