Today, Christmas Eve Day, I’m writing to INMED’s graduates: the 434 individuals who have earned the INMED Diploma in International Public Health (DIPH) and Diploma in International Medicine & Public Health (DIM&PH). They have achieved these academic credentials through both rigorous didactic study and on-site service experience in a very-low income community. But more importantly they, almost to the person, are engaged in career service for the world’s most poor.
This Christmas, this year, what can you give that will be most significant? Consider the gift of yourself – your time and your talent to benefit people who lack the resources to improve their own estate. Such giving can indeed be effective when made in a spirit of humility, dedication, and empowerment. Such was the approach of Christ who taught us, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:26-28.