Passion *, of course passion. Passion about passion. Without it we don’t follow our bliss, we don’t meet that unique life challenge that mysteriously appears before us. Larry Bird shooting basketballs, Vincent Van Gogh painting, my friend Marianne quilting, Thomas Merton as hermit and writer.
With passion, we keep going. When passion leaves, the goal drifts away. There’s nothing wrong that. We don’t expect to have passion for all our challenges, but it’s essential for the important ones—for our passions, that is. It seems indispensable to our well-being to have one or two passionate challenges in life that give meaning on which we can hang our lesser talents and desires. “A job well done,” we want to be able to tell ourselves. We want to know that our passion has given us tenure at the university of life.
My passion as a teacher was to create an environment in which young children learned to love learning as they learned to read. I was passionate for them to learn their own passion. For twenty-five years I worked from morning ‘til night and on the weekend, too. I shared my passion with teachers, both in person and in the books I wrote for them. Then my passion to teach lost it’s fire and became, and has remained, a memorable glow. I retired. I had shared all I had to offer. I had done my best and I was satisfied. I had obtained my tenure.
Now my passion has a quiet, spiritual glow, but it is the same passion, nonetheless. I am passionate for people to learn their own passion. My classroom is the internet and one-on-one encounters; my students are adults.
* Martin Dugard’s list of traits (curiosity, hope, passion, courage, independence, self-discipline, and perseverance) necessary to meet the challenges of life (see previous posts)
With passion, we keep going. When passion leaves, the goal drifts away. There’s nothing wrong that. We don’t expect to have passion for all our challenges, but it’s essential for the important ones—for our passions, that is. It seems indispensable to our well-being to have one or two passionate challenges in life that give meaning on which we can hang our lesser talents and desires. “A job well done,” we want to be able to tell ourselves. We want to know that our passion has given us tenure at the university of life.
My passion as a teacher was to create an environment in which young children learned to love learning as they learned to read. I was passionate for them to learn their own passion. For twenty-five years I worked from morning ‘til night and on the weekend, too. I shared my passion with teachers, both in person and in the books I wrote for them. Then my passion to teach lost it’s fire and became, and has remained, a memorable glow. I retired. I had shared all I had to offer. I had done my best and I was satisfied. I had obtained my tenure.
Now my passion has a quiet, spiritual glow, but it is the same passion, nonetheless. I am passionate for people to learn their own passion. My classroom is the internet and one-on-one encounters; my students are adults.
* Martin Dugard’s list of traits (curiosity, hope, passion, courage, independence, self-discipline, and perseverance) necessary to meet the challenges of life (see previous posts)