Passion

Basking in the glow of Valentines day.....I did one of my favorite forms of multi-tasking, drinking a cup of coffee,in PJ's while eating chocolates that are thrown to me from across the room by my honey, like a seal and trainer. I had bought the chocolates for him but,you know how that goes. It's a hard job but, someone has to do it. After a few minutes contemplating belly lint and other various things my sweetheart asked the rhetorical question, "What makes something interesting adding "Not that this isn't interesting" but......"well more interesting".....He suggested that it was the extreme edge of our societal margin that makes a art form noticed by our consumer driven lifestyle.....music, art, movies. The things we as a society seem to value are the shocking (the car wrecks of art etc.) The biggest budget the smallest......whatever, the grotesque or sexually shocking are what get people talking. I found it hard to argue, Channel surfing or web surfing shows me very little but extremes set up to tease a person into stopping and watching. (just stop on MTV for 5 minutes and you will feel like the oldster complaining about walking 5 miles to school, eating dirt, while still being happy.) To have any point on which to stand on, I had to think hard about what people really value. Having no people but myself to poll about this I came to the conclusion that I value passion. Passion to spend years honing a craft. Passion for what you love or do can be shared. It draws people in and holds our attention....I admit it, I have stopped to watch someone get slapped in the gentiles or tattooed on the inside of their mouths. Nothing says I love you like your sweethearts name on your lips but I thought that was supposed to be the whispered word. These people have taken it literally. On their wedding day.......No, It really happened. No REALLY.... but just like those two crazy love birds my interested lasted slightly less time that their two week marriage. (I was done in 10 minutes I only wanted to know how they kept the mouth open.) What I am saying is that we are losing the ability to look beyond the shock factor. The value is no longer placed on anything but the ability to be shocking. Ultimately jading our sensibilities and killing the passion that is created by the love of a job well done. (not to sound too much more like Andy Rooney but....) The extreme might get a person recognition but it is effort, creativity and universal truths that keeps people interested for anything longer than the span between commercial breaks, that and the occasional half naked person.