What’s more important?

Context important: I wrote this ~17 months ago, when I was still a handsomely-paid, W-2 employee

What’s more important?

In the work context, is my VC job more important than my brother’s GC job?

How should we judge that?

The money we get paid?

The number of lives we save?

The smiles we produce?

The trajectories we change?

First I must ask, “Who’s the recipient of the service?”

Is it for me? Or is it for another human?

If it’s for me, then look no further. If the work is important to me, then the act needs no external justification. I would do the work anyway. Doing the work feeds my soul. So to do the work is a gift to myself.

And to contribute to myself is to

If it’s for another, then I’ll simply ask,

“When they hire me for the job, do they value what I have to give?”

At various times, I might need a doctor, a lawyer, a builder, or a barista. In the moment I need them, that’s the most important job in the world to me.

I might need a nutritionist one day and a bartender the next.

I might need a trainer today and a masseuse tomorrow.

I might need a therapist one day and a singer the next.

A producer crafting the next blockbuster to help me escape.

A fighter pilot flying his next mission to help keep me safe.

A mentor giving some advice.

A mother giving some birth.

We all contribute to the collective in our own unique way

We all play a role, do our part, as we give it all away

What’s more important?

What a contractive question…

To assume I’m more important than anybody because I make more money is to be blind to all the help that I’m getting along the way

Why is the judgment of relative importance even necessary?

A profession is just one expression of our contribution to society

We need all of these roles to be filled

We need everyone to function smoothly in this shared ecology

So, what’s to be gained in comparing their relative importance?

All roles are important

And we’re all important (& insignificant) at the end of it

P.S. - my-my-my how the tables have turned since this piece was first written. Everything do be changin' :)