At the commencement ceremony for Arizona State University, President Obama delivered quite a call to action:

“Did you study business? Go start a company or why not help our struggling non-profits find better, more effective ways to serve folks in need. Did you study nursing? Understaffed clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your help. You study education? Teach in a high-needs school where the kids really need you.”
Helping Others, Helping Yourself
This call from the President makes one wonder if we’ve moved on from the go-be-a-giant-of-industry model. Our non-profits do need help, so do our schools, so do our clinics, but is it practical to ask recent graduates to devote their hard earned degrees to helping others?

Yes, it’s okay to ask, but it isn’t okay to demand. In rough times such as these, it’s true that banding together as a nation only helps us get back on our feet. Without entrepreneurs, without ambitious students going out and producing, though, we’ll just be in a more comfortable kind of economic downturn.

Heed this call, if your goal is help others directly. Don’t be fooled by those who call the entrepreneurial, capitalist spirit selfish or outdated. New businesses create new jobs and put money into the economy. If everyone stops building, producing, and creating, we run the risk of all being in need, which makes helping others impossible.