Martin Hirsch’s inaugural lecture to our students: we take a look back

Martin Hirsch is the president of the Institut de l’Engagement and former president of Emmaüs France. Martin took to the podium in early September to talk to first-year PGE students, when he shared his reflections on the importance of leading a committed life.

The origins of a life of commitment

“During World War II, my grandfather left for London to join General de Gaulle, while my father enlisted in the Resistance when he was only 15 years old to fight in the Liberation army. Two commitments where they put their lives on the line. At home, there was never any question that they would claim to be heroes in front of me, but even so their stories would find their way into family conversations. Was that the reason I wanted to engage in a cause? No, it was just too intimidating for me. 

My commitment took a different path altogether at a different age when I fell in love with a girl who spent her weekends caring for children with disabilities. The only way to win her heart was to follow her. And so, my first step towards a life of commitment was motivated purely by self-interest without a hint of altruism.”

The definition of commitment 

“I always think there is a link between commitment and my favourite sport, mountaineering. In mountaineering, there are routes known as “committing routes” (voies engagées in French): paths where you're not certain you'll make it back, but you’ll do everything in your power to return. This encapsulates the idea of risk-taking, of mobilising everything that can be mobilised. 

In what’s known as civic engagement, that means investing your time and harnessing your skills and what you learn there to use in other contexts. This might be deploying your financial resources to support a cause, leveraging your network to bring as many of your connections as possible on board and similar efforts. But ultimately, it’s about mobilising these resources in the service of a cause that is bigger than you. It could be the environment or the climate transition, the poor, the sick, the disenfranchised, the vulnerable...”

The importance of commitment 

“The world is governed by two great powers: governments and markets. If you believe that these two powers are enough to build functional societies – societies, in other words, that protect us, that include the entire population, and that ensure well-being and happiness – then you are wrong. A third essential force is needed. And that third force is within us. 

Commitment is vital for devising solutions that could not come about without people coming together. You can’t have a society where one part simply produces and another part is excluded. We must not turn a blind eye to our shared destiny. Active participation is an antidote to apathy and the deepening of social inequalities.”