Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain

Barack Obama, in the manner of a leader who has walked among both the mighty and the humble, declared: “Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.” These words, born of both experience and reflection, pierce the illusion that wealth alone can fulfill the human heart. They proclaim that ambition measured only in dollars is not greatness but smallness, not abundance but poverty. For true life begins not in the pursuit of gain, but in the pursuit of purpose.

The ancients would have nodded in agreement. Marcus Aurelius, emperor yet philosopher, wrote that wealth and pleasure are fleeting, but service to mankind is eternal. Confucius taught that the noble man seeks the Way, not profit. And even Christ warned that what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Thus, Obama’s words are not new but a modern echo of eternal wisdom: that to live for gold is to live too cheaply, and to live for a cause greater than oneself is to rise into greatness.

Consider the life of Florence Nightingale. She was born into privilege, with the path of wealth and leisure laid before her. Yet she chose instead to serve in the blood-soaked tents of Crimea, tending the wounded with her own hands. Had she lived for comfort, the world would scarcely remember her name. But because she hitched her wagon to something larger than herself—the healing of the suffering—she became a symbol of compassion for all generations. Her true potential was revealed not in wealth, but in service.

And history abounds with such examples. Think of Mahatma Gandhi, who renounced a comfortable career in law to fight for the freedom of India through nonviolence. Or Nelson Mandela, who sacrificed decades of his life in prison for the hope of a multiracial democracy. Their greatness was not born of pursuing wealth, but of surrendering themselves to something greater: justice, freedom, human dignity. Their names thunder across the ages because they chose meaning over money, destiny over comfort.

Yet, O listener, heed also the warning within Obama’s words. To chase wealth alone is not only to aim too low, but to risk losing your very soul. Many have climbed to the heights of riches only to find emptiness at the summit. Palaces cannot warm the heart, nor can treasures fill the void of a life unlived for others. The poverty of ambition lies in the tragedy of aiming only for what can be counted, and never for what can endure.

The lesson is clear: if you wish to unlock your full potential, find a cause greater than yourself. Serve your family with devotion, your community with love, your nation with integrity, or humanity with vision. Let your ambition stretch beyond the walls of your home and the limits of your pocket. For when you give yourself to something vast and noble, you discover powers, courage, and resilience you never knew you possessed.

Practical wisdom flows from this: each day, ask yourself not, “How much did I earn?” but, “Whom did I help? What good did I add to the world?” Seek opportunities to align your work with service. If you are an artist, let your art inspire. If you are a teacher, let your teaching shape lives. If you are a leader, let your leadership lift others higher. In every field, there is a way to tie your labor to a greater cause.

So remember, O children of tomorrow: do not live only to make a buck. Hitch your wagon to justice, to truth, to compassion, to the flourishing of mankind. For in serving something greater than yourself, you will discover the greatness hidden within yourself. And when your days are done, it will not be the coins in your hand that matter, but the legacy of light you left behind.