Defining Passion

While the outside is murky, but my heart on fire, I was walking along and something came to me. The definition of passion. It brought back memories of being in a scholarship interview and being asked to go more in depth regarding my passion for writing and journalism, "We've heard it all." While today I cannot fully quote what I told the interviewers that day, something worked because I received the only print journalism scholarship they offered.

But as I think now, a different sense of passion comes to mind. Of course there is the being passionate about an activity you enjoy. That is always good. But what I believe has been lost in the world is the true sense of passion. The need. The fire. The feisty. Passion gets a bad rap sometimes. It gets a bad rap under the Lust Department; that creepy basement closet that only the most desperate for physical closeness go.

Like what the interviewers asked me that day, passion has depth. It has a superficial surface where the lust department lies. It has a more genuine, innocent side and it has the true depth which is what I am just beginning to understand and explore. True depth of passion has the longing, the need, the admiration, the fire, and the desire. It consumes your whole being and it takes a very special person to reciprocate the same amount and depth of passion. But once you find that person, you begin to understand passion. You begin to understand why people use the word.

Passion is something that is difficult to pinpoint. It's not a game of pin the tail on the donkey. It takes maturity and that leap of faith to find and discover it. And once found, you simply cannot let go. You will forever drown in the passion and even though you cannot get out, you won't want to. I want to conclude with a quote from a movie that a friend told me. I forget which movie, but something about it struck me and really seemed to apply.

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion. And medicine, law, business, those are noble pursuits and necessary for life. but poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."