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Jumping headfirst into some stereotype of social activity — whether it is soup kitchens or civil disobedience — is rarely a prescription for long-term engagement. Often this ignores possibilities already present in our lives, and attempts to supplement what we are already doing with “something meaningful.” But adding another all-consuming activity to the menagerie of obligations attending work and home life is unlikely to be sustained in the longer term — with that which earns one’s livelihood prevailing in the end.