“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
- Julia Childs
“Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination.”
- Diane Sawyer
I am ready to admit that I am not a passionate individual. From time to time, I will have a distraction that consumes a vast amount of my time, but I have never found that one thing that I am passionate about and that drives me.
If anything, I am an incredible “liker” of things (e.g. I like to write and I like to watch anime), but none of my “likes” or interests have ever evolved into a passion. To be honest, a number of things I like are things would be better described as hobbies as oppose to passions.
Of course, the problem could lie with my perception of the term. The quotes above should give an indication of my perception of passion, but to prevent any confusion: Personally, a passion is the guiding belief (or force) that dictates every aspect of an individual’s existence.
“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”
- Alexander Hamilton
Over my thirty-two years of life, I have formed a series of personal beliefs about how things should be, but none of these beliefs have come to forefront as being the one guiding force. And it is because of this and a few other personal flaws, I find myself in my current position.
It is because of my absence of conviction that I have made the decision to find my passion because I cannot accept the idea of remaining stagnant and pointlessly meandering through life. At 32, I am desperately seeking a focus and a purpose, but most importantly; I am seeking a passion!
Fortunately, I do have a handful of beliefs that can become a meaningful, guiding passion that can make a difference to not only me, but to others too:
- Education: I firmly believe that access to quality education is not a privilege, but a right that should be afforded to all and I believe this because I believe that an educated community is a prosperous community. I was the first member of my family to not only attend college, but to graduate from college--twice! But, the cost of obtaining a higher education has left me with a considerable amount of debt that will take years to clear. The desire to educate and improve one's self should not mean I will have to start two steps behind my more fortunate (or affluent) peers that did not need to incur debt to afford college and yet, this is the situation that countless college graduates confront upon completion of their degree programs.
- Immigration: As the son of immigrants, I have witnessed first-hand the difficulties of navigating the immigration system in the United States of America. I have experienced both the heartbreak and the joy that comes from having a family member either denied or granted entry in the United States of America. In fact, my original plan for college was to earn a Law degree and work as an immigration attorney so that I could assist individuals dealing with similar situations. I believe that rather than close the doors to immigrants, our country should be embracing immigrants and simplifying the process of gaining lawful entry into the country. Our nation is a nation built upon the backs of immigrants and yet, we shun them and use them as scapegoats to explain our own shortcomings. And that is wrong!
- Social Justice: I realize that phrase "social justice" is a loaded and vague phrase that encompasses a wide array of issues, but in fact; the phrase is based upon a simple premise--a premise that I believe in: all individuals should be afford the same rights as any other individual regardless of age, ethnicity, gender identification, race, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation (i.e. treat everyone equally regardless of our differences). Women are equal to men and should be afforded the same wages and socially-accepted norms. The bonds that help form homosexual couples are no different than the bonds that form the basis of heterosexual couples and therefore there should be no distinction between the two in regards to marital rights and status. And I could go on and on with the various examples of social justice issues I believe in, but I will examine it in greater detail in future posts.
Yes, I intend to publishing more posts about my journey to discovering the passion that will drive me in my life decisions because I know that it is going to be a long and arduous task that will not be completed in a single journal post. To be honest, it may never be something I discover, but I need to make this effort because I know that I should be doing more with my life. Also, I do apologize for any and all grammatical errors--I love to write, but grammar was never a strong point--and for the length of this post though in comparison to my other posts; this post only seems drawn out.
