December 20
He truly lives who is of use to many. He lives who makes use of himself.
Letters to Lucilius, Letter 60
Listening mode
He truly lives who is of use to many. He lives who makes use of himself.
There are days when you are needed from morning till night. Someone wants information, a signature, a second opinion, your car for Saturday. You're glad to help, and by evening you are tired in a way that feels earned.
Still, something can stay untouched in all this. What people usually ask for is what you can reliably do. What you haven't quite mastered yet and would like to take further hardly interests anyone. Being needed and making use of yourself don't coincide of their own accord. The one follows demand, the other follows something that hardly anyone ever asks about.
The reverse is no simpler. What you do only for yourself sometimes stays strangely light as long as nobody can do anything with it. Whether it carries any weight, you often notice only once it reaches someone else.
Sometimes someone asks you for precisely the thing you can't yet do with confidence. You say yes anyway, and it turns into a long evening.
