My verb is “to serve”

I always wondered growing up why I had a powerful affinity towards certain concepts. For example, one of the most memorable movie scenes from my childhood is from the 1997 film ‘Life is Beautiful’ where Uncle Eliseo tells Guido (in the context of operating a restaurant):

“You’re here serving, you’re not a servant. Serving is the supreme art. God is the first of servants. God serves men, but he’s not a servant to men.”

Similarly, the concept of ‘Noblesse oblige’, which stands for one’s obligations and responsibilities that come with nobility, has resonated with me early on. My version of nobility has nothing to do with birth, status, or money. It has everything to do with character.

Thanks to my conversation with Divya about identifying people with verbs, I was finally able to give my echoing thoughts a concrete voice. I realized that my verb is “to serve”. Let me elaborate.

I realized that my verb is “to serve”.

First, service means serving another rather than serving myself, and it isn’t just limited to people. I could serve an idea, a cause, a company, a country. The key is to put whatever it is above myself. This has the useful side effect of keeping my ego in check and opening my mind to feedback and craft possibilities that lie beyond the realm of personal interest.

Second, as Eliseo mentions, serving doesn’t mean being subservient to others otherwise it dangerously devolves into following blindly. True service takes courage, discipline, and creativity because sometimes the solutions aren’t straightforward and my actions are met with resistance, cause short term pain, or go unacknowledged and unappreciated. Yet I carry on because I have determined that this is the best way to serve and achieve long term objectives.

Third, I can’t serve properly if my talents and skills won’t make a difference. Conversely, once the cause ceases to be worthy of my time, I will consider leaving it. In this way, the cause needs to be worthy of me and I need to be worthy of the cause. This concept determines which opportunities join, which projects I launch, and which ones I leave behind or pass on.