I'm currently reading the book, "How to Change the World - Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas." It's a fantastic book featuring amazing people dedicating their lives to extreme causes. I admire these individuals for everything they pursue and everything they are. A social entrepreneur is someone who finds a way to achieve economic gains as a means towards bringing people together to solve social issues.
The common trait of the social entrepreneurs is their selflessness. They aren't finding ways to prosper while solving social problems, they find economic platforms as a solution to "make" other people care about the social issues. The individuals leading these efforts seldom make any money themselves. I admire it. I want to be like that. But as I'm reading this book nagging questions keeps popping into the back of my mind...how do these people make money? Without a 401k how will they retire?
I wish I didn't think like that. I wish I could give up those pragmatic thoughts and just follow a passion of compassion. But I find it very difficult.
Showing posts with label passion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label passion. Show all posts
Monday, October 29, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
UNDERWEAR FROM THE DOLLAR STORE
I had drinks with a co-worker last night who is interested in joining the fashion industry. I can't dress. I have absolutely no taste when it comes to clothing, and maybe that's why I've always ridiculed fashion as an arrogant, pretentious club. I never understood celebrating someone for what they wore when what it was covering up was really important.
However, the girl I went out with last night may have convinced me otherwise. She spoke of the importance of fashion in making people feel good and increasing moral. She spoke of how fashion is a badge that can unite people and make them feel less alone. She was passionate about it, and I bought it. It's hard not to believe someone when they are truly passionate in their delivery.
Her pep talk didn't educate me on how to dress properly, I'll still match colors wrong and buy from Target, but I can see a different perspective on an industry I thought contributed little to society. I'm still not a pro-fashion guy, but if more people working in the industry had the same perspective and passion for the positive that my co-worker has, then I could change my opinion quite quickly.
However, the girl I went out with last night may have convinced me otherwise. She spoke of the importance of fashion in making people feel good and increasing moral. She spoke of how fashion is a badge that can unite people and make them feel less alone. She was passionate about it, and I bought it. It's hard not to believe someone when they are truly passionate in their delivery.
Her pep talk didn't educate me on how to dress properly, I'll still match colors wrong and buy from Target, but I can see a different perspective on an industry I thought contributed little to society. I'm still not a pro-fashion guy, but if more people working in the industry had the same perspective and passion for the positive that my co-worker has, then I could change my opinion quite quickly.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
DECONSTRUCTNG THE RECLINER
I have been searching so hard for what it is I can put my passion fully behind. I have so much passion and compassion in me that it feels ready to burst. It seems as if it's been ages that I've been hunting this elusive path unsuccessfully.
I was watching Bill Cosby promote his new book entitled, "Come on People." The book deals with the tough issues facing African American society - particularly parenting and a social support structure. Anyhow, he is so passionate about this topic that it radiates from him. You just know that each evening he lays down to sleep he feels content with his day's activities. He may not feel accomplished but certainly he's aware of the direction he treads...and it's right.
As I watched the interview I realized that I need to stop looking and start doing. I need to volunteer more, I need to really research the topics that come to mind. I'm in a situation right now where I can forge my own path. Everything seems aligned. Instead of waiting for the man with the machete I need to grab the tool myself and start hacking away.
I was watching Bill Cosby promote his new book entitled, "Come on People." The book deals with the tough issues facing African American society - particularly parenting and a social support structure. Anyhow, he is so passionate about this topic that it radiates from him. You just know that each evening he lays down to sleep he feels content with his day's activities. He may not feel accomplished but certainly he's aware of the direction he treads...and it's right.
As I watched the interview I realized that I need to stop looking and start doing. I need to volunteer more, I need to really research the topics that come to mind. I'm in a situation right now where I can forge my own path. Everything seems aligned. Instead of waiting for the man with the machete I need to grab the tool myself and start hacking away.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
I CAN TIE A CHERRY STEM WITH MY TONGUE
I received one of those e-mail chains where you need to fill out information about yourself and send it back to friends. You know, the ones that ask your middle name or favorite smell. On this particular one there was a question asking for my "Special Talent." I must have sat at my computer for ten minutes trying to come up with my "special talent", no luck.
EVERY DAY I think about how fortunate I am. I think about the amazing support structure I have with my family and friends and the overall situation I have going for me in life in general. For gods sake, I'm taking some time off of work and traveling to Europe for a month! But am I happy? Not fully.
I feel like I'm missing something. Something big. I used to just chalk it up to love and a lack of successful dating relationships. Which it could be. But recently I've been thinking that I can look past being in love (outside the general sense) if I can find that "talent" that I can be passionate about.
I used to want one thing in life - a family. Honestly, I have always been able to see myself concentrating on a job that supports my family and feeling fulfilled. But I'm 31 years old and that hasn't come to me. So I've had to start looking at other ways in which I feel fulfilled. And by "fulfilled" I basically mean contributing positively to life. If it isn't going to be through raising children the right way and (hopefully) setting an example in marriage, then it must be through a talent or, at a minimum, proactive passion. This is what I've been searching for.
At one point I thought it was going to be through writing or filmmaking. But I have constant doubts about that. It could be through getting involved with non-profit work, but as I've volunteered often and witnessed how the non-profit world works, I have my doubts there as well. I'm still searching.
I've been very excited about 2007. Partly because I'm in a more comfortable position in my life. Certainly more comfortable than I've ever been previously. And partly because I feel like I have a huge challenge ahead of me - which is both scary and exciting. I feel like I am in that small window in time where I have the best chance to dictate my success in life. I feel like I am at a place where I have a better grasp on an understanding of myself and life, and I'm still young enough to be considered a commodity. All I need is to find out what my talent is. Passion is never the problem for me - sometimes I think that's all I have inside of me, along with love, which I suppose play into one another. I know everyone has a talent. It's just a matter of finding it. The search continues...
EVERY DAY I think about how fortunate I am. I think about the amazing support structure I have with my family and friends and the overall situation I have going for me in life in general. For gods sake, I'm taking some time off of work and traveling to Europe for a month! But am I happy? Not fully.
I feel like I'm missing something. Something big. I used to just chalk it up to love and a lack of successful dating relationships. Which it could be. But recently I've been thinking that I can look past being in love (outside the general sense) if I can find that "talent" that I can be passionate about.
I used to want one thing in life - a family. Honestly, I have always been able to see myself concentrating on a job that supports my family and feeling fulfilled. But I'm 31 years old and that hasn't come to me. So I've had to start looking at other ways in which I feel fulfilled. And by "fulfilled" I basically mean contributing positively to life. If it isn't going to be through raising children the right way and (hopefully) setting an example in marriage, then it must be through a talent or, at a minimum, proactive passion. This is what I've been searching for.
At one point I thought it was going to be through writing or filmmaking. But I have constant doubts about that. It could be through getting involved with non-profit work, but as I've volunteered often and witnessed how the non-profit world works, I have my doubts there as well. I'm still searching.
I've been very excited about 2007. Partly because I'm in a more comfortable position in my life. Certainly more comfortable than I've ever been previously. And partly because I feel like I have a huge challenge ahead of me - which is both scary and exciting. I feel like I am in that small window in time where I have the best chance to dictate my success in life. I feel like I am at a place where I have a better grasp on an understanding of myself and life, and I'm still young enough to be considered a commodity. All I need is to find out what my talent is. Passion is never the problem for me - sometimes I think that's all I have inside of me, along with love, which I suppose play into one another. I know everyone has a talent. It's just a matter of finding it. The search continues...
Saturday, February 3, 2007
WE BOTH LIKE TO SHOWER NAKED! LETS GET MARRIED!
I had a rather interesting evening last night which continued through to the wee hours of the morning. I was introduced by a friend to an eccentric character - we'll call him Adam. Adam appeared to be the type of guy who is a genius with technology (he works IT) but is a little socially inept. So Adam was shy, and I was struggling to get more than a yes or no answer at first from him regardless of the question. But a few beers later and the guy opened up. He told me about how he had just suffered through a tough divorce caused by cocaine abuse. Basically he had a friend die of an overdose which made him realize he needed to clean up his life. His wife, also a fan of the coke, didn't agree. So they broke up. I asked Adam if cocaine had been the common trait between the two of them and he said, "Other than a love for getting high we didn't have anything in common."
This got me thinking about my past few relationships and the commonalities between the women and me. What I realized is that I have a penchant for going after women that are far more different from me than alike? You've heard the phrase "opposites attract" but can "opposites" sustain a healthy relationship? Do dating services have it right? Should we be looking to find a "match" by pairing ourselves with people who share similar passions?
Adam and his ex-wife shared a passion for cocaine which obviously didn't work out. I know there isn't an equation for a successful relationship but does, lets say, people with shared interests in certain areas have a better shot? I'm sure the TYPE of passion figures into this equation as well but none-the-less, I really wonder if a relationship based on respect alone could be enough.
This got me thinking about my past few relationships and the commonalities between the women and me. What I realized is that I have a penchant for going after women that are far more different from me than alike? You've heard the phrase "opposites attract" but can "opposites" sustain a healthy relationship? Do dating services have it right? Should we be looking to find a "match" by pairing ourselves with people who share similar passions?
Adam and his ex-wife shared a passion for cocaine which obviously didn't work out. I know there isn't an equation for a successful relationship but does, lets say, people with shared interests in certain areas have a better shot? I'm sure the TYPE of passion figures into this equation as well but none-the-less, I really wonder if a relationship based on respect alone could be enough.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
By now you've probably realized that I am obsessed with the topic of emotion. I don't understand them and I don't know what to do with them. But there is one place where I absolutely MUST have emotion - the arts.
I'm going to reserve this post for music and movies in particular which are two of my real passions in life. What in the world has happened?! Don't we have anything meaningful to say anymore? It's like we have become a bad combination of the 60's and 80's. On one hand we have plenty of issues to talk about but in the end "we just wanna have fun." Where is the passion?
Grunge died with Kurt Cobain, which I have to say was rather appropriate. But I'm still waiting for something to take its place. Pop music doesn't do it. Half these sissies don't even play their own instruments. Cobain used the stage as his personal asylum. It was like when you were a teenager and you'd push your face deep into your pillow and scream out all the aggression, hoping your parents wouldn't hear. Only in his case there was no pillow and he didn't give a fuck who heard. Actually, that's not true, he did give a fuck who heard. The problem was that all the lunatics jumping around in front of him stopped listening at some point and it killed him. Kurt needed people to listen and understand, but when they stopped understanding - or at least caring - he didn't see a point in it anymore.
After Cobain died everybody started screaming into the microphone like a crazed monkey. Like that was what made Cobain so powerful. What they didn't understand was that Cobain HAD to scream. It wasn't a marketing scheme. There was no other way for him to communicate his pain. It was a reflex. Try listening to a song by Nirvana and not FEELING it. You can't. Now try listening to today's popular music and see if you can feel anything other than your hips gyrating slightly to an electronic backbeat.
Even rap music which at one point was dripping in emotion became stale. After 2Pac died the posers came out. Was EVERY rapper a street thug looking to murder anyone in their way? Hell no! But they thought that was the secret to rap success (some still do). Truth is when 2Pac delivered his lyrics you could hear them bursting out of every pore in his body. He had to speak his truth or he would die. Which he did. It wasn't until the great white hope named Eminem came along that there was a revival in real rap emotion. Many argue that Eminem was only popular because he was white but, again, listen to any song from Eminem's first few albums and see if you can't FEEL his message. Eminem's last album was so lame that he decided to hang it up for a bit. He had run out of meaningful things to say and he knew it. He knew he couldn't fake it. Because he never had before.
I could make a list right now of artists in the 60's, 70's (skip the 80's) and early 90's that used music as their soul's medication. It would be a pretty lengthy list altogether. If I tried to make the same list with today's artists, I'm not sure I'd get very far.
We are living in some of the most interesting times in the history of the world. Seriously. And no one has anything they HAVE to say or they feel like they might die? Do we have it THAT good? Are we afraid of something? Are we content with the money, the sex, the fame? Does that trump our heart and turn our eyes blind to everything else? I know the answer to that, I just don't want to believe it.
Movies have always been another expressive art form provoking an emotion that laid hidden between scenes. Many movies are good at creating an emotion in the audience but very few tell you why that emotion was important. I've read several reviews about this years Sundance film festival which have called it, "an unusually boring and dull year for Sundance." I would argue that the past handful of years at Sundance have been boring and dull. The movies today seem more preoccupied with looking cool or being unique rather than its content. I'm all for being unique but if your goal is to be unique you will never make a good film. Ever. It's not about the process. It always comes back to the message. Clint Eastwood is one of the few directors today making movies because he HAS to say something. If he doesn't say it he will die. Or at least want to. I can't think of one other director today that makes movies because the message means everything to him. Unfortunately Eastwood isn't a 24 year old prodigy. He is an old man trying to remind us of what being an artist means. I hope some talented individual is listening.
I'm going to reserve this post for music and movies in particular which are two of my real passions in life. What in the world has happened?! Don't we have anything meaningful to say anymore? It's like we have become a bad combination of the 60's and 80's. On one hand we have plenty of issues to talk about but in the end "we just wanna have fun." Where is the passion?
Grunge died with Kurt Cobain, which I have to say was rather appropriate. But I'm still waiting for something to take its place. Pop music doesn't do it. Half these sissies don't even play their own instruments. Cobain used the stage as his personal asylum. It was like when you were a teenager and you'd push your face deep into your pillow and scream out all the aggression, hoping your parents wouldn't hear. Only in his case there was no pillow and he didn't give a fuck who heard. Actually, that's not true, he did give a fuck who heard. The problem was that all the lunatics jumping around in front of him stopped listening at some point and it killed him. Kurt needed people to listen and understand, but when they stopped understanding - or at least caring - he didn't see a point in it anymore.
After Cobain died everybody started screaming into the microphone like a crazed monkey. Like that was what made Cobain so powerful. What they didn't understand was that Cobain HAD to scream. It wasn't a marketing scheme. There was no other way for him to communicate his pain. It was a reflex. Try listening to a song by Nirvana and not FEELING it. You can't. Now try listening to today's popular music and see if you can feel anything other than your hips gyrating slightly to an electronic backbeat.
Even rap music which at one point was dripping in emotion became stale. After 2Pac died the posers came out. Was EVERY rapper a street thug looking to murder anyone in their way? Hell no! But they thought that was the secret to rap success (some still do). Truth is when 2Pac delivered his lyrics you could hear them bursting out of every pore in his body. He had to speak his truth or he would die. Which he did. It wasn't until the great white hope named Eminem came along that there was a revival in real rap emotion. Many argue that Eminem was only popular because he was white but, again, listen to any song from Eminem's first few albums and see if you can't FEEL his message. Eminem's last album was so lame that he decided to hang it up for a bit. He had run out of meaningful things to say and he knew it. He knew he couldn't fake it. Because he never had before.
I could make a list right now of artists in the 60's, 70's (skip the 80's) and early 90's that used music as their soul's medication. It would be a pretty lengthy list altogether. If I tried to make the same list with today's artists, I'm not sure I'd get very far.
We are living in some of the most interesting times in the history of the world. Seriously. And no one has anything they HAVE to say or they feel like they might die? Do we have it THAT good? Are we afraid of something? Are we content with the money, the sex, the fame? Does that trump our heart and turn our eyes blind to everything else? I know the answer to that, I just don't want to believe it.
Movies have always been another expressive art form provoking an emotion that laid hidden between scenes. Many movies are good at creating an emotion in the audience but very few tell you why that emotion was important. I've read several reviews about this years Sundance film festival which have called it, "an unusually boring and dull year for Sundance." I would argue that the past handful of years at Sundance have been boring and dull. The movies today seem more preoccupied with looking cool or being unique rather than its content. I'm all for being unique but if your goal is to be unique you will never make a good film. Ever. It's not about the process. It always comes back to the message. Clint Eastwood is one of the few directors today making movies because he HAS to say something. If he doesn't say it he will die. Or at least want to. I can't think of one other director today that makes movies because the message means everything to him. Unfortunately Eastwood isn't a 24 year old prodigy. He is an old man trying to remind us of what being an artist means. I hope some talented individual is listening.
Friday, January 19, 2007
WILL WORK FOR PASSION
I have made up my mind that I will be quitting my job within the next 4 weeks. I have saved up some money so I can take some time off and refresh. I would like to pursue a new industry but I'm not really sure what that industry is. I feel extremely uneasy about being jobless for the first time since the age of 15 but I'm looking forward to it as well.
Ideally, I just want to be passionate about what I do. I want to feel like it matters. Which is turning out to be much easier said than done. When I look at the job boards for non-profit companies where I would feel proud to work, I look at the salary and the "nights and weekend work" and I lose my breath. Somehow it's difficult for me to realize that if I'm working with my passion, "nights and weekends" won't be a chore but rather a desire.
I'm passionate about many things but maybe the problem here is that I can't prioritize my passions. I know what I would consider my number one want in life but I don't know what I would consider my number one passion. And this is a problem I feel our country has as a whole - no one has a real passion to change the injustice we face. We haven't had it since the 60's rebellion(s). Is it because we have life too good? It makes us ambivalent?
How do you find a passion? Does it have to find you?
What is your number one passion?
Ideally, I just want to be passionate about what I do. I want to feel like it matters. Which is turning out to be much easier said than done. When I look at the job boards for non-profit companies where I would feel proud to work, I look at the salary and the "nights and weekend work" and I lose my breath. Somehow it's difficult for me to realize that if I'm working with my passion, "nights and weekends" won't be a chore but rather a desire.
I'm passionate about many things but maybe the problem here is that I can't prioritize my passions. I know what I would consider my number one want in life but I don't know what I would consider my number one passion. And this is a problem I feel our country has as a whole - no one has a real passion to change the injustice we face. We haven't had it since the 60's rebellion(s). Is it because we have life too good? It makes us ambivalent?
How do you find a passion? Does it have to find you?
What is your number one passion?
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