There is a great joy in being useful

I came across this phrase whilst listening to a podcast about Maurice Hilleman, the father of modern vaccines. A humble, unassuming but brilliant and driven scientist, Hilleman developed over 40 major vaccines that we use today, including hepatitis A and B, mumps, rubella and measles to name a few. Hilleman died in 2005 aged 86, recognised as one of our greatest ever scientists, yet I cannot recall hearing about him until today.

He was being interviewed in his final years about his work and accomplishments, where he said.

‘I am kind of pleased about all of this, I am not smug about it, I’m pleased because there is a great joy in being useful…’ 

I would say being ‘kind of pleased’ is a gigantic understatement when one is accredited with saving over 8 million lives per annum!

I was highly attuned to this little gem, as I had just been studying the Australia Talks dataset, where 54,000 Australians were interviewed in 2019 about their attitudes on a wide range of topics. Amongst these was a finding that half those surveyed would feel happier if they were more involved in their community. 

Volunteering is a great way to be both useful and get more involved in community, better still if it intersects with an interest or passion. It seems the perfect vaccine to ward off feelings of loneliness and disconnectedness. Unfortunately, I sometimes see churn and disillusionment amongst volunteers. For those of us who are leaders in the NFP space, I think we have a responsibility to provide an appropriate framework to ensure that volunteer experiences are stimulating, rewarding and contribute to personal growth. A good New Year’s resolution perhaps?

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you stay safe, joyous and useful in these bizarre times.

As a footnote, 73% of Australians surveyed also said they would be happier if they travelled more often, and what a shocker that has turned out to be in 2020...