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Thursday, March 12, 2009
What are you passionate about?
7:32 PM | 
Posted by
Christine
Me? Well....
Life is too short to spend a lot of time criticizing others. Lead by example. Teach by doing what is right. Change what you can, in a positive manner where possible. Recognize what you can not change, and don't obsess over it.
I will not be cowed into believing that I am stupid or weak because I have values that are different from someone else's, whether it's professional or personal. I will choose not to fight battles that can't be won against people who refuse to consider any picture but their own. Choosing not to fight does not automatically make a person a loser. Unless you thing Gandhi was a puss, in which case you need serious help.
Life is hard enough, don't you think? Be compassionate. Have empathy. (These qualities are very different from pity and weakness)
I'm exhausted, and I'm hurting right now. My bet is that you there, reading this? You are, too. So do what you love. I'll try to do the same.
Doesn't that make the world a tiny bit better, in and of itself?
- my son
- love
- music
- diversity, in the fact that we all have our own priorities, and that is a GOOD thing. If we were all worried about the same shit, the world wouldn't really work right, would it?
- beauty
- humor
- character
- peace
- striving towards perfection wherever possible
- giving back
- gaining perspective
- personal evolution
- naps
- did I mention love?
- maximizing strengths, and minimizing weaknesses
- acceptance
- grace
- knowing when to speak up for what one believes in
- knowing when to keep one's mouth shut
- humanity
- giving kids a fair shot
- giving adults a break now and then
- not giving anyone too many breaks
- occasional solitude
- ice cream
- friendship
Life is too short to spend a lot of time criticizing others. Lead by example. Teach by doing what is right. Change what you can, in a positive manner where possible. Recognize what you can not change, and don't obsess over it.
I will not be cowed into believing that I am stupid or weak because I have values that are different from someone else's, whether it's professional or personal. I will choose not to fight battles that can't be won against people who refuse to consider any picture but their own. Choosing not to fight does not automatically make a person a loser. Unless you thing Gandhi was a puss, in which case you need serious help.
Life is hard enough, don't you think? Be compassionate. Have empathy. (These qualities are very different from pity and weakness)
I'm exhausted, and I'm hurting right now. My bet is that you there, reading this? You are, too. So do what you love. I'll try to do the same.
Doesn't that make the world a tiny bit better, in and of itself?
7 comments:
Amen and amen.
Hey, I'll probably be calling you sometime soon.
WF
That was a beautiful post, C.
Life's too short to spend a lot of time doing a lot of things, especially those things that you are not passionate about and/or that do not help you grow/evolve. More of that.
All very good things to be passionate about. But it does not make the world any better as a whole. Your world, perhaps. And only if the world in which you live allows those passions. What happens when some of those passions are taxed or outlawed? Imagine a world without ice cream. Or next to worst case is it is slowly taxed out of exisitence because the governement says it is bad for you.
No one in their right mind would disagree with your list, on a personal level. I surely do not. But when you allow the world around you to change without caring or paying attention you may not find enough solice in your current passions as you become less prosperous, your child's future is compromised and where you once thought you could not change things, you will be forced to make an effort to do so.
As harsh as this may sound, I am sure the Jews had very similar passions before their world changed as they and others thought they could not effect change in the 1940's. The "can't we all get along" mentality has been responsible for more diappointment, deceit and sociatal change/destruction than most anything in history.
Stick to your passions as they are excellent. I guess you can just hope that everthing else around you will take care of itself.
M-
It's not that I don't care or pay attention. It's that long ago, I discovered that you don't listen - you just wait for another opportunity to attack. You only hear the parts that you want to hear, even when that's not even what has been said.
That is why I don't argue politics with you. I have beliefs. They are not passions, but they are beliefs. You've just never listened. You've challenged, you've threatened, but you've never really listened.
Just because someone doesn't completely agree with you, that doesn't mean they either have totally different beliefs than you, or no beliefs at all. It just means they choose not to argue with you.
I am done now.
Wow. Where did that come from?
I say this as an absolute political junkie. I DVR shows about the Georgia General Assembly. I monitor legislation in Montana, fercryinoutloud.
Not everything is political. Most things aren't.
WF
(C, feel free not to post this, of course.)
I post everything, Wes...I don't believe in censorship. But I'll delete if you'd prefer.
I could tell you where that came from, but it's a very long story...nearly five years in the making, really. I probably shouldn't have brought it here, to be honest - but I'll live with it.
I'll say it again - we all have the right to our own opinions. Even if that opinion is that I suck.
Me too....done.