Amanda asked what are you PASSIONATE about and Doc said he is PASSIONATE about infrastructure. That’s pretty much bullshit, I think. Doc is passionate about geology. Doc is passionate about the night sky. Doc is passionate about photography and his pictures of earth and sky weave these passions together. Doc is probably passionate about a lot of stuff, but I want to take exception to the use of passion to describe his feelings about infrastructure.
[damn. Doc just linked to me because he got a smile out of my "Leonsis bought Calacanis" line. Now I feel bad about saying that what he said was bullshit. damn. I should probably change it. But no...]
The reason I’m writing this post is not to offend Doc nor to offend Amanda, not to cast aspersions on what was a good phone interview by a woman who does good phone with a guy I really respect. The reason I’m writing this post is because a day or so ago I read a brilliant essay by one of my favorite writers about saving the word PASSION for when we really mean it. Amanda, you are so busted…
We’ve used up so many great and needed words this way, and passion is a sacred one. It’s the language of Abelard and Heloise, Petrarch, Anna Karenina, Beethoven, and Oppenheimer. It belongs to lovers, artists, and worldchangers—who rarely need to talk about it, because they live it—and it means something more than “kick it up a notch.†We have good words for what we need—curiosity, enthusiasm, craftsmanship, and dedication. Let’s stick to them, and save passion for when we (really) mean it.
– Dervala
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