Barack Obama: Reward People for Usefulness
on Wednesday, October 20, 2010Barack Obama Money Quotation saying The things we value in our society are often of little value at all and that we need to consider what is truly important. Barack Obama said:
“We reward people a lot for being rich… one of the values I think we need to instill in our country, in our children, is a sense of ‘usefulness’” — Barack Obama
Barack Obama seems to be suggesting that American society places a high value on wealth accumulation and material success, but could benefit from also emphasizing the importance of contributing value to others through one’s work and efforts.
His point appears to be that while becoming rich through business or career accomplishments is respected, we should also teach children the virtue of deriving a sense of purpose and fulfillment from their efforts by being “useful” to their community through careers, volunteering, civic participation or other meaningful activities that help people.
The quote conveys Obama’s view that in addition to reward based on financial gain alone, a sense of service that creates benefit for others is a valuable quality we should seek to develop in future generations.