In my senior year of high school, a guest speaker came to my AP Government class and told us that we could change the world...but we couldn't change everything. It is easy to care faintly about a wide range of issues, but we don't laud the accomplishments of vaguely compassionate people. We salute passionate people for changing the course of history.

Essentially she told us to have a cause. Do some volunteer work, educate your friends and family, research charities, sign petitions, write an email to your representatives, or make it your career. Having a cause doesn't mean you don't care about anything else. You can still do your daily part for the other causes - recycle, conserve water, adopt a dog, do relay for life, go vegetarian - both kinds of activism are important. Societal shifts require many people doing a little and a few people doing a lot. We are often a part of the many but we really maximize our impact when we become a part of the few.

Maybe you don't care about any one thing significantly more than everything else. It's easy if you have a passion, but if inspiration hasn't hit, I'm not above advising you to shop around for a short while, then pick. Just pick something. Accept that you can't change everything and trust that the people around you are working hard for the causes you don't select. There's no rule saying you can't refocus your energies if inspiration strikes later on. Meanwhile, think it over and make a thoughtful commitment to invest your efforts. Consider what is important to you but also consider where you could have the biggest impact given your location, knowledge, and resources. You might find that the more you learn about something, the more you care about it. Think of it like a consensual arranged marriage: sometimes the effort comes first and the passion comes later.

When I was a child it used to drive me crazy that I didn't know my favorite color. As a kid, you get that question a lot. I was so relieved when I eventually realized that my favorite color was whatever I wanted it to be. I painted my room red and moved on with my life. When someone asked me, I was ready. It sounds like a silly comparison, but it's not all that different. We decide how we self-identify, and that identification is liberating. Be an environmental activist or a child advocate or a civil rights warrior. Once the decision is made, all there is left to do is act. And when the world asks you what you have to say, you'll be ready.