How do we support young people’s desire to serve society?

I never imagined that after graduating from college and working in the offices of a respected consulting firm in the Midwest, one day I would walk away from what looked like a secure and enviable path.

- Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, Tribune News Service

Bill Gates

But after months spent helping companies squeeze out higher profits, I began to wonder, like Leo Tolstoy, whether a life devoted entirely to success could ever feel meaningful. So I left. I traded corporate perks for the uncertainty of a spiritual vocation and committed myself to religious leadership, social entrepreneurship, adult education, academia and activism. In the years since, I have founded nonprofits, launched incubators, taught thousands of students and worked alongside people confronting some of the most pressing injustices of our time.

Such decisions are rare, exposing an unsettling moral decline in American life. The issue isn't talent but moral guidance. Many capable youths chase high pay, influenced by peers, families and looming debt. Fields such as tech, finance and medicine are vital, but fewer opt for work that benefits the human spirit, such as teaching, supporting vulnerable populations or advocating for justice.