I think that it is everyones job to further the advancement of mankind. The way to do this is by selflessness (putting the good of the human community over the good of yourself, any one individual or group) compassion for all living, sentient beings, and to ease suffering, eliminate desire, and bring joyfulness, peace and tranquility into the world whenever possible, and having good intentions at all times.
Those of you that know me probably think the above paragraph was the most hypocritical peace of information disseminated since the last time Bush gave a speech, and you are right I have hardly been a good example of what I preach, allow me to explain.
In my late childhood/early adulthood I made some very poor choices and the consequences of those actions led me to be a bitter, self loathing, sarcastic, alcoholic with an extremely violent temper and no respect for anything. I am not trying to be all emo about the situation, that is just how it was. While my drinking was not as out of control as some, my temper was the stuff of legend. I really wanted to learn how to get it under control but was not about to turn to designer drugs, a therapist, or a religion. Someone at some point (and to this day I do not remember who) suggested that I try meditation. I thought it was stupid hippie crap but figured I had nothing to lose, problem was I did not really know how to do it, so I did what I always do when I want to learn something I looked it up on the internet. Since meditation is so intertwined with Buddhism I ended up reading a lot about Buddhism and realized that without even knowing it that I had been of Buddhist thinking for most of my life, until I lost my way over the previous few years. Now I am not going to pretend that after that there was a magical transformation, but I slowly learned to acknowledge my temper and alcohol problems and wean myself off of them. Sort of.
Since I had been so adamant my entire life against religion of any kind (even though I do not consider Buddhism a religion) I felt like I was betraying myself and being a sell out, and was somewhat ashamed of it, so I did not tell ANYONE about it. This of course meant I had to go on being what people perceived of "me" with the drinking and other things, that is until one day last year.
There was a day when I misread my work schedule and came in two hours early by mistake. I did not want to go back home so I went to a near by Barnes and Noble. I looked around for a while, and noticed a book in the philosophy section that I had vaguely heard of but never really thought about. That book was Dharma Punx by Noah Levine being into both punk, and the Dharma like I was (am) I picked it up and bought it. I read this memoir cover to cover twice inside a week, and realized that Noah had been through way worse in his life than I had and was very publicly open with his spirituality. From there I decided that I did not have to impress anyone so I slowly, without beating people over the head with it, came to acknowledge my spirituality to those I know. It was the best decision I ever made, it allowed me to stop drinking entirely, be lest abrasive (I still haven't conquered that one though...), and be more tolerant and understanding. I even quit eating meat like I had wanted to for a long time.
I, like the rest of mankind, still have a long way to go. But I am on the path and though I am not being as beneficial to the world as I can be, before it is said and done I will contribute as much as I possibly can, in this life and every one that follows.
EDIT: 11/19/2006 About a month ago I started taking Shaolin Kung-Fu, as well as Tai-Chi and Qigong. It has been a very exhilirating experience, I heave learned a lot (though I am clearly not a natural) and I can tell that I am going to continue to benefit greatly from it (despite having a fairly serious injury after just a couple of weeks). First go to http://www.kungfu-sc.com after that if you are even remotley interested come and try it out, the Lao-Shih (teacher) is very talented and easy to learn from so do not feel intimidated.
Namaste
