I am speaking to the Bainbridge Island Rotary Club (a big shout out and thank you for the invitation by the way)… I’m presenting on purpose and service.

As I prepare for my presentation I’m present to how much better life works, how much better I work, when I’m aligned with my purpose.  Kids’ books often strike a chord with me and this topic was so beautifully addressed by Brian Selznick in his Caldacott Award winning book.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

An excerpt from the novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick:

“Did you ever notice that all machines are made for some reasons?” he asked Isabelle. “They are built to make you laugh, like the mouse here, or to tell the time, like clocks, or to fill you with wonder, like the automaton. Maybe that’s why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn’t able to do what it was meant to do.”

Isabelle picked up the mouse, wound it again, and set it down.

“Maybe it’s the same with people,” Hugo continued. “If you lose your purpose…it’s like you’re broken.”

…..

“It’s so beautiful,” said Isabelle. “It looks like the whole city is made out of stars.”

“Sometimes I come up here at night, even when I’m not fixing the clocks, just to look at the city. I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”