Mobility Partnership member Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, and the Dalai Lama collaborated on an op-ed in the New York Times on the universal need to feel needed.
"In many ways, there has never been a better time to be alive, " they write. "[F]ewer among us are poor, fewer are hungry, fewer children are dying, and more men and women can read than ever before." Yet in some of the world's richest countries, prosperity is undercut by deep anxiety. Joblessness and social isolation contribute to conditions in which a growing number of people "feel they are no longer useful, no longer needed ..."
They call on individuals and leaders to build compassionate societies with more opportunities for meaningful work.