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wtgg

posts: 257

Dec 19, 2008 11:01 AM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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I was waiting for some glue to dry just now (Really) surfing around (because as everyone knows glue takes longer to dry if you watch it) and found this article on Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/09/mike-rowe-jobs-lead-careers-employment08-cx_mr_1209rowe.html?feed=rss_news
check it out for a chuckle and a different passion spin.
 
CraigL

posts: 9051

Dec 19, 2008 2:30 PM ET    Quote  Report Abuse
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It`s an interesting and definitely fun article, but it`s also a dangerous set of assumptions. The essence is that there`s no benefit to "passion," one should walk away from the word and focus instead on a more "real" world.

Unfortunately, with no definition of passion from the writer`s perspective, we really have no idea what he`s talking about.

The bottom line is that a true passion is hard to come by. When people find themselves captured by that passion, they`re driven to do what they`re doing and haven`t got much choice in the matter. It`s close to an obsession. Not many people get into that condition.

However; plenty of people think that a strong feeling is the same as a passion. They confuse lust, greed, excitement, or other powerful feelings for passion. Following those types of biochemical drivers often leads to calamity.

What`s more interesting in the article is that the people doing the jobs "love" what they`re doing. The writer could just as easily said the people are "passionate" about what they`re doing. By choosing "love" over "passion," all he`s done is a) substituted the argument, and b) confused the issue.

A passion is the result of making an ideal our highest value. That value ought to be higher than anything else. If we therefore value a person higher than an ideal, saying that we`re "passionate" about the person, we`re bound for trouble.

Love is the result of making a tangible or concrete individual, physical person or thing the highest value. We love a person, but we`re passionate about justice, for example.

In the article, the writer says that each example person has one thing in common: they`re not part of a team. They`re individuals, independent, doing what they want to do, not being made to follow rules and patterns. That form of independence-while-being-paid is an ideal.

The job-holders aren`t passionate about the jobs in particular. That would be love. Instead, they`re passionate about their freedom to choose, freedom to decide, freedom to use their own judgment---in short, their personal freedom.

They also get paid for exercising that freedom, initiative, judgment, and skill. That`s why the expression says, "if you can get paid for doing what you `love` to do, you`ll never `work` a day in your life."

Passion isn`t love. Love isn`t passion. But to understand ideals means having a particular view of reality that`s been under attack for more than half a century.
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