Plan after work today: I want to start volunteering. I don't know what I want to do yet, so tonight I plan to look into different options. Some might argue, as Dan has argued in the past, that it's better to work toward large-scale, systematic change, and that it's a waste of time to bother with small acts aimed at improving the community. I have three answers to that argument:
1) Systematic change is neither guaranteed, nor is it guaranteed to produce positive effects; however, small acts are easily achieved and in many cases manifestly positive. Furthermore, the sum of a lifetime of small acts is considerable and maybe even comparable to a single act of implementing large scale change.
2) I don't think the time investment that I'm considering--a few hours per week--is large enough to undermine my efforts for broader action. Not to mention the fact that I'm wasting a lot of my time right now anyway, and I might as well use it one something good. My availability may change, but right now, the time is there.
3) There is a personal benefit to volunteering. It is immediately rewarding, and it helps maintain humility. In a way, it seems like a spiritual practice, something necessary to maintain the health of the soul. I don't want to find myself at next year's Yom Kippur service once again lamenting my lack of contribution to the community.
In addition to my volunteering research, I plan to spend time with Eva, work on my HTRAB worksheet for at least 30 minutes, spend some time on French, and RSVP about Penn's open house.

Three Principles

1. The reckoner: Honest and frequent self-evaluation.
2. The thinker: Define values, set goals, and develop plans using clear and rational deliberation.
3. The agent: Never act the worse when you know better--when the choice is clear, you must submit to its authority. Do not relinquish the will to base impulses.

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