I agree with Rutger Bregman that the definition of a “good” job needs to change (No, you’re not fine just the way you are: time to quit your pointless job, become morally ambitious and change the world, 19 April). But I’m not sure those fine minds of bankers and influencers bent on personal financial gain are likely to agree their efforts are a waste of talent or that they might be persuaded to swap financial ambition for the moral sort anytime soon. Nor do I share his enthusiasm for the western, paternalistic vision of the lone crusading world-saver. Do we need another hero? Or do we need governments with the moral ambition to create more equitable societies for those who elect them?
Bregman is dismissive of those who prize awareness over ambition, but awareness can itself be influential (as those who react with savagery to “wokeism” instinctively grasp) and can lead to change in ways that are not easily quantifiable or measurable in clicks or likes. I wonder if he has read Middlemarch, George Eliot’s great investigation of moral ambition, which concludes: “But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
Andrea Dow
Rothesay, Isle of Bute
• As someone who has made that change described by Rutger Bregman, I know that it involves downsizing your lifestyle, since non‑profit work, or NGO work, doesn’t pay very well. So if the latest car and a penthouse apartment are critical for you, you’re not ready.
If you are willing to downsize, then perhaps you are ready. I am living on social security and a small stipend from my 401k retirement savings plan. I live in a poor section of San Diego, in an old apartment. I also have a volunteer homeless outreach team that helps about 100 people a week with food, water and clothing. We also help other teams with delivering supplies and donations. We are dealing with the lowest of the low, people who have been abandoned by society. Open drug use and filth are common on our route, as are people in poor health due to their habits. This is a field that will give you warm fuzzies when things go well and break your heart when they do not.
It is also the most personally rewarding thing I have done in my life, and I am 71. I am trying to make my part of the world a better place and show people that, while the world can be cold and cruel, there are also people like us who care.
Bruce Higgins
San Diego, California, US
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Read the full article here
