Acumen Fund

Above all, I'm impressed with how the Acumen Fund treats people at even the extreme poverty level with respect. They are not seen as victims, but as "potential customers and budding business people in their own right." From what I understood, selling things to people and encouraging them to buy more things in countries where the average person lives on only a couple of dollars a day can increase business commerce and subsequently lift many people up from living at a mere subsistence level. I respect Jacqueline Novogratz for giving up the "rewards of Wall Street" where she had previously worked, and instead dedicating her attention, time, and effort towards the things that really mattered in life: helping and benefiting others.

The part where Seth Godin talks about deciding to change the world and doing what no one has done before made a pretty big impression on me. It also made me question my motives for studying medicine. I know part of me is doing it for my pride, but I'm not so sure about the other part. For me, my definition of helping others was always physical. Doctors help patients by diagnosing illnesses, giving them the appropriate treatments, and essentially saving lives. But that is only a small portion of what it means to truly aid your fellow human being. Besides medical treatment, they need the basic of basics including food, water, shelter, and clothing. There are so many more ways to help and contribute to the world, but like 99% of university students, I'm afraid of deciding, or I don't want to decide to take that route. I want to do what is familiar, accepted in society, and is consistent with what I was taught. With the Acumen Fund, Godin guarantees that people will face failures over and over again, and this is what makes me hold back. Do I have it in me to give up the "rewards" of being a doctor to pursue a more challenging but rewarding moral vision that Jacqueline has set up? I can't say for sure, but it's definitely something to think about.