...My favorite word in the English language. There are several reasons for this: Its phonetics and etymology are perfect. It carries such a strong emotion. It is unbelievably universal, applicable to thousands of situations. It just rolls off the tongue. Lastly and most importantly, nothing can be accomplished successfully without passion. I believe passion to be the most intense word in our language.
My good friends may read this and say, “Josh, I thought ‘chimney’ was your favorite word...?” Well, at one time it was but this is not true anymore. Passion. The word has everything a good word needs, like: a double letter (ss), a “sion” sound, the best vowels “a”, “i”, “o”. The word passion has a demanding tone which instantly prompts imagery and triggers immediate interests. The word carries so much gravity in our society that when somebody begins to talk about passion, you know the topic is serious. It packs a punch.
Passion can be used in virtually every circumstance. Sports, dreams, performances, in reference to a strong love, a movement, an interest, and suffering. Passion signifies an acute admiration. Passions are a spark inside that motivate you to act on what fires you up. For me, it seems that passion is deeper than love. Love has not lost meaning and has become so commonplace of a word that is thrown around and thus, losing its value. Think of the things you can do with passion: play football with passion, act with passion, love someone with great passion, and be passionately interested in something.
The greatest passion is not one of human origin, but the Divine Passion. The word passion comes from the Latin word patior, meaning to suffer or endure. The greatest display humanity has ever seen is most often recognized as “The Passion”. There was more love than is able to be comprehended by any human mind, in the act of Christ’s death. And what do we call it? The Passion. He did what had to be done with passion. He suffered and endured for His overwhelming love for sinners...with passion.
A passion is an immaterial substance in your heart and soul that compels you to do what will fulfill what you have a deep internal love for. There is a reason that passion is talked about by your parents, your coaches, your teachers and everybody else that care about you. It's because passions are easily the most important things in this world. What is life without a motivation? What is the meaning of anything if we have no excitement for what could be? And what are motivations and potentials worth, if we don’t follow through on them? And then what is the point in doing anything without zeal, without passion?! Passion is the solitary force that brings a much deeper meaning to our lives and makes our achievements worth more than just accomplishments.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a German Idealist and a major influence in Marxism (in other words, a very influential philosopher and political theorist), said, “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” I completely and 100% agree with Hegel. To be great you must find passion. You must desire beyond any love to fulfill your dreams. Invite passion into your life. Find passion in the small things and you will accomplish the great things.
