Daily Kos

A Simple Question to end your night with

by Ian Hines

Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:00:26 PM PDT

When was the first time you felt a passion for something? Anything.

What was it?

It's things like this that build community...

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  •  When I wrote my first piece of music (none / 1)

    Three things turn me on: politics, music, and women.

    Now that Dean's out of the race, I've had to cancel my recital because of time constraints, and the women in my life have suddenly dematerialized...

    Pass the sherry, please.

    ProgressiveHistorians: History and Politics Of, By, and For the People

    by Nonpartisan on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:03:32 PM PDT

  •  Great question (none / 1)

    Wow, what a cool question. Ian, you're the best. (And I don't say that just because you posted my Dean pretzels on the GenDean blog)

    My high school had its own radio station, and I caught the passion for radio, for communicating to people, from the very first day I was there. That's why after a couple detours into other careers I'm back in grad school to get a radio degree, at long last.

    Radio can do things other media can't; it's time we had some people in radio that recognize how special it is and treat it that way.

    That, and Cubs baseball. 1984 was a beautiful, beautiful year, until games four and five of the playoffs.

    It's finally here - AmericanGovernmentSimulation.com

    by bcarlson33 on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:08:12 PM PDT

  •  Smiles... (none / 1)

    The first time the teacher let me argue with the other students... ;)

    by Lavoisier1794 on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:15:53 PM PDT

  •  I was 13 (none / 1)

    I'd been acting since the age of 5, but at 13 --  8th grade -- I was refused the lead role in a forgettable school play, and instead cast as the comic relief.

    Given the generally torturous experience that an 8th grade play can be for an audience of adults, my performance lived up to the word "relief," and the response to what amounted to 80% improvisation was tumultuous.

    It wasn't so much the applause or the praise; it was the fact that something I was evidently born to do elicited immediate positive response. After a childhood utterly lacking in positive response (indeed, filled to overflowing with a horrendous combination of abuse and neglect), I was amazed and thrilled to discover I was worth something, that I had something to contribute to the world that wouldn't be devalued, ignored or derided.

    Oddly, I was conscious of these reasons for my elation.

    (Of course, I later developed a rather unhealthy passion for scotch -- but that's another story.)

    -9.63, -7.03 Rage, rage against the Lying of the Right

    by Maryscott OConnor on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:20:39 PM PDT

  •  OK. I'm strange (none / 1)

    Steppe nomads.

    At 10 I read a rather lurid paperback popular history of Tamerlane, and after that it was all downhill.  As there was virtually nothing on such topics for younger readers, I began haunting the adult section of the library--much to the dismay of the librarians--searching for any books even tangentially connected to the history, lives and culture of traditional Turkic and Mongol steppe peoples.

    MA-02

    by Dancing Larry on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:25:24 PM PDT

  •  Huh (none / 1)

    I dunno. Passion is hard to quantify, and my definition of what it means has evolved over the years. When I was 14 I had a passion for learning to program. When I was 16 I had a passion for this girl Caryn and her white knee-high stockings. When I was 18 I had a passion for drinking and a different girl in Holyoke. When I was 20 I had a passion for Jack Kerouac and making theatrical performance pieces. When I was 22 I had a passion for riding my bicycle in Manhattan. Now I have a passion for empowering people to take a participatory role in their lives.

    I'd say all the things connect me to larger things than myself, and are in some way or another creative.

    The current war in Iraq is the first thing I've ever been truly passionate about in a political sense.

    Me | My Work | Future Majority

    by Outlandish Josh on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:29:28 PM PDT

  •  First one I can recall (none / 0)

    is being eight years old and being fascinated with archaeology. I had read a book about Heinrich Schliemann and his excavation of Troy, and was captivated with the idea of discovering bits of our past by looking into the earth.

    Not quite sure how my career trajectory went from there to here (elementary school principal?!?), but it's the first passion I remember well.

    There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. --Benjamin Disraeli, cited by Mark Twain

    by sheba on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:37:40 PM PDT

    •  Wow (none / 1)

      I couldn't think of a single, overriding passion from my early childhood until I read your comment, and it came back to me.  Like you, I had an early infatuation with archeology.  I think I was about seven or eight, and I'd sit in class not doing my work but reading books about archeology.  Eventually that faded, to be replaced by baseball, WWII, wildlife and woodsmanship, etc.  

      After that I barely thought about archeology for years.  Then, when I was about 28, my grandmother died.  She had lived through a lot of tough times, and despite the adoring love of her children and grandchildren, her and her family had experienced a lot of sadness, poverty and disappointment.  My dad and most of his siblings didn't graduate high school, and I always assumed that my grandmother hadn't either.  But a few weeks after her funeral my uncle's ex-wife, who had stayed in close contact with my grandmother, sent me an oral history she did for a college class in which she interviewed my grandmother.  I discovered my grandmother had not only graduated H.S., but was class valedectorian.  But just as surprising was that as a child she had read the newspaper accounts (1922) of the excavations of Tutenkhamen's tomb and decided she wanted to be  an archeologist.

      I teared up when I read that, because I realized while I adored my grandmother, I never viewed her as somebody with passions and dreams beyond loving and caring for her family.  I also felt a slightly stronger and more personal connection with my grandmother, because at about the same time in our childhoods we both apparently dreamed of digging up tombs and making huge discoveries that would excite people around the world.  But finally I felt fortunate, since even though I wouldn't become an archeologist, I knew that I'm  able to pursue other passions, and with a little luck, I might experience a little less hardship and dissappointment than my grandmother.  

      Thanks for reminding me of all of this.  

      The revolution will not be televised, but we'll analyze it to death at The Next Hurrah.

      by DHinMI on Wed Apr 14, 2004 at 05:32:04 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  A movie I saw when I was about 12-13 (none / 0)

        called "Soldier Blue".  Made me look at cowboy movies, Native Americans, the US Military, and history very differently, especially after I started reading everything I could find about the Sand Creek Massacre.  

        I haven't seen the film since, but I can still remember all the scenes from the Massacre - those images have remained with me for 40+ years -- and the feeling I had at the end of the film. Unfortunately, I have relived that feeling on far too many occasions as I have paid more attention to my government's foreign policy.

        (PS At the time, the film was seen and understood by most as a My Lai analogy, and was successful in that regard for many people, myself included, but its impact on me was actually much broader than just solidifying a position vis-a-vis the Vietnam War, its kind of the starting point of my avocation as an anti-militarist and an anti-imperialist.)

        Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds. --Elie Wiesel

        by a gilas girl on Wed Apr 14, 2004 at 09:18:36 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  •  When I took my crayon (none / 0)

    and, after staring hard at the house I'd just drawn, added a third dimension to it.  I was four; all of a sudden the physical world was fair game and I began to draw everything I could around me.  In second grade I'd lie awake at night staring at the perfect profile of my little sister sleeeping next to me, then practice those elegant lines the next morning before school.  Mom was a painter and made me look at the real color of things, go past the symbolic "green" of the tree, etc.  I was lucky enough to get great early training in art, and have been painting for--hmmm, looks like 35 years now.

    Thanks for asking!

    by arlam on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:45:04 PM PDT

  •  Look around (none / 1)

    The kinetic world is wondrous.

    I love a really stiff wind on a warm day.

    I love to go out in a pouring, soaking rain.

    When I was a kid I never wanted to be an astronaut or a fireman or a pro athlete, though I loved sports.

    I thought the coolest job in the word must be to be a storm chaser.

    Even to this day, though I certainly enjoy my work, that's the only career I think I've ever really lusted after.

    by ryan b on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 10:48:36 PM PDT

  •  Cool diary! (none / 0)

    Last time I felt passion...hmm

    About a week ago I finally nailed an asian crab cake dish I've been working on.  The right sauce totally made it.  That was passion.

    It's sort of an ongoing thing, but I've been trying to read most of the existentialist writers.  I found new author I didn't know of before, Knut Hamsun, and the guy totally rocks.  That was sort of passionate, but not really because reading is a more passive experience.

    I become very passionate when I'm playing guitar and creating new songs.  Unfortunately, I've not been inspired to play lately.  I'm not sure why but it will come back eventually.  

    Another passion of mine that never relents is my prostate cancer prevention regimen.  I've been passionately preventing prostate cancer since my early teens.

    "When I was an alien, cultures weren't opinions" ~ Kurt Cobain, Territorial Pissings

    by Subterranean on Tue Apr 13, 2004 at 11:48:51 PM PDT

  •  nursing (none / 1)

    Having nursed my two babies and seen how they reacted from day one, I'm pretty sure I must have had the same passion as a newborn.

    From there, it was probably a passion for my parents and my blankie.  I'm a mother of preschoolers, so this seems really obvious.  But, none of us remember our own first years.

    What do I actually remember from my early days?  Passion for ice cream.  Passion for roller skating at age 10.  

    I think "passionate" is probably one of the first words people use to describe me.  I've been an activist since about age 10.  I amass all my energy (and I'm fast-paced and don't sleep much) into whatever is my current interest.  So, that's included being boy-crazy, dancing all night long, talking political philosophy in dorm hallways into the wee hours, writing the best possible code to make a program as fast and efficient as possible, railing against injustice, and organizing volunteers to take action to make the world a better place-- one step at a time.

    by susan on Wed Apr 14, 2004 at 12:53:57 AM PDT

  •  Ideas (none / 0)

    Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds. --Elie Wiesel

    by a gilas girl on Wed Apr 14, 2004 at 09:23:13 AM PDT

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