Passion is what motivates us to strive for our goals. It is what everyone thinks the people in society should have since it brings new ways to improve the world. With passion, there comes realization that the people must see for themselves. It is that realization that makes us who we are. We realize what we are and whether or not we decide to change it is up to us. Jeff Bliss, a sophomore in Duncanville High School had passion for education. He came back to school to learn and get an education. There, he realized that he had to face lazy teachers that had no interest to teach him anything. This realization is what made the 18 year old rant about the teacher being lazy in class and not having passion to teach the class.
The
book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a young man named, Chris
McCandless who set out into the great unknown of Alaska. McCandless graduated
from college and then disappeared from society. He drove his car on a long road
trip until it got hit by a flash flood and became useless. This led him to
leave his beloved Datsun and hitchhike on foot. During his travels, McCandless
learned many things like making a belt and kayaking. When he finally reaches
Alaska, he had trouble finding food and starved for days. He finds a bus to
make camp in and stayed there for months. McCandless gets used to hunting and
feast on game regularly. It wasn’t until later on his final days that he is
feeling very week and at near death. Possibly due to the wild potato plant’s
pods which is hypothesized to be poisonous since not much is known about it.
This caused McCandless to become unable to move and in the end died of
starvation.
Everyone
has passion for something in their lives. This passion helps them become who
they are or what they want to become. With passion comes success since there is
lots of motivation to continue forward. With success comes the inevitable of
struggles. This struggle will help a person realize what they really want in
life and if they want to continue with their passion. Passion leads to
realization since it helps us succeed, struggle, and realize what we really
want and who we really are. Passion is the basis of all great start in life and
will guide us through the rest of our life if we choose to follow it.
Passion
helps us make life decisions and find fulfillment. In class we talked and
watched a movie about what gives us motivation to move on with our lives.
Passion gives us a reason to pursue what we want to do and how we want to do
it. To do the things that strives us, passion is essential to fulfilling our
lives with what we long for. In the book Into
the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the main character, Chris McCandless, decided to
live his life the way he wants to. "I'm living like this by choice."
(51). McCandless is doing what he wants to do. That statement means that he is
willing to live his life tramping around and having an adventure than work for
people in society like the rest of us. I also think that he has too much love
for the outdoors. This passion for the outdoors had made him live the life he
chose to live. In addition, McCandless has eventually found what he wanted to
find in his tramping life. "I have lived through much, and now I think I
have found what is needed for happiness." (169). In McCandless's journal,
he seems passionate about what he has done so far. I think this passion for
having this great Alaskan adventure has made him find his goal. He was able to
reflect and find what he said was "needed for happiness" and it seems
he didn't regret what he has done in order to pursue what he felt passionate
about.
Class
is another intersecting point. McCandless was in an average household. He had
parents that loves him and raised him. He seems like a middle class person with
an average family. His parents worked hard to make sure their children get to
go to college. McCandless family saved money and tried to think of the future.
"We did without when the kids were little, saved what we earned, and
invested it for the future." (115). I think this is a normal act in any
family. All parents think of the future and want to give their children a good
head start in life. This also implies that the McCandless family is not a high
class family but an average one. As an average family, they will push
McCandless to go to college so he can have a better future than them. "But
they got on his case about going to college; and whatever they said to him, it
worked." (114). This means that McCandless's parents can afford to send
him to college. I think the McCandless obviously saved up their money to send
their child to college. This implies that they are a normal family that fits
into the middle to upper class system. I think it is good that they intended to
send their son to college because that means they really care about him.
Privilege does come
into play as well. McCandless is very privileged to get to the Alaskan
frontier. He had lots of exploration as a child and gained some experiences in
rock climbing. His family could afford to go camping and learn to enjoy the
great outdoors. "When Chris was eight, Walt took him on his first
overnight backpacking trip, three-day hike in the Shenandoah to climb Old
Rag." (109). I think this is a very privileged thing since not every eight
year old gets a chance to camp. I have never been camping all my life and would
really want to try it out. He gets to do it at such a young age and that to me
is a very privilege thing to experience. It can make very bonding childhood
memories with families and friends. "I have a college education. I'm not
destitute." (51). It is a privilege to get a college degree or to even go
to college in the first place. I think getting a diploma is a very privileged
thing because it gives a person some leverage against others out in the world.
McCandless had everything in life to put himself in a good start in life which
I think is a privileged move done by his parents. This is why I think
McCandless is very privileged.
Passion
and privilege do go hand in hand sometimes. The privileged can follow their
passion and become what they want because they have the opportunities to do so.
Privilege makes things easier and better for certain people and it boosts
people's passion. It boosts people's passion by making their life more enjoyable
and much more comfortable than others. Romeo, a cast member in the Passion
Project movie, said "Society is like not doing its job because it has high
expectation for people to follow what other people are doing." Most of us
are not as privileged as others in society and therefore, we have to do what
others expect us to do. This means we can't do things we are passionate about.
I believe this will only make our goals much harder and it will inevitably
destroy us. Also in the Passion Project, a member named Karina said education
is to teach about respect. “Education is supposed to teach you to respect
others and to respect different ideas and how to work with each other.” Education is a privilege and should be used
to help others find their passion. I think education teaching students to be
respectful is an example of society doing what they want the students to do. It
kind of manipulates the students but at the same time, education can provide
insight to a student’s passion.
We,
the less privileged, look at the privileged in envy. We think that they have
everything they could possibly want. This is what the less privileged would
look towards instead of what we feel passionate about. It becomes an objective
about gathering the most wealth. Emily, a cast member of the Passion Project,
stated: "We still have that mindset where we need money to survive. Oh, I
have money I can buy a plasma T.V. I can buy a uh a king size, a water
bed." This proves that the less privileged wants to get to where the
privileged are. We get blinded by what we see and forget our passion. Our
dreams to be what we want to become and succumb to what people call "greed
and envy" which strays us off our path. The whole point of this is that we
are not following what our passion is, instead we are follow what our eyes want
and what our families what. There is no real passion if what we are seeking is
only a temporary happiness because once it is over, we would have nothing left.
In the book, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless found wealth as a bad thing. “Her
son, the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting,
inherently evil…” (115). I think McCandless doesn’t want wealth to define his
passion. He seems to be the type that wants to go out there and live his life
to the fullest without the chains of society pulling him down. He was very
privileged to have parents that make a lot of money which allowed him to travel
around the world with them. This ignited his passion for the great outdoors
which is the reason why McCandless decided to have his great Alaska
odyssey.
The
discussion in class made me realize that I'm still lost in life. I have strayed
off my path and got stuck in no man's land. People who are not doing what they
feel passionate about are just going to suffer more in life than the people who
like what they do in life. There are also many people in society that feel like
they are being forced to do stuff they don't like. Whether it is peer pressure
or the pressure of society, it still doesn't change the fact that lots of
people are doing things they don't like. In the movie, a cast member named
Tiffany said passion is what drives us. "It's something that drives you,
that excites you, makes you feel good." I agree with her because if we are
not doing what makes us happy because we are doing stuff that others want us to
do. If we don't follow our dreams, hopes, and passions, then we'll end up
working for someone else, someone that did follow their dreams, hopes, and
passions. In order to make a difference in our society and to fulfill our
goals, it is important to follow our passion. In the Passion Project, a member
named Ray said he wants to do big things with his life. “I wanna I wanna help
people; I wanna do big things in my life.” I think this statement is a good
indicator that the younger generations want to break free from the old
generation’s tyrannical judgments and do something with their lives. It is also
an indicator that we want to follow our passion and become what we want to
become. By doing what we like, we can come up with better ideas and think
outside of the box to solve lots of problems, problems that could make the
future a better place. That is why I believe following our passion is very
important.
Passion
is what everyone should have. Without it, we are just an empty shell that will
be filled up with society's ideas. Those ideas will not be achieved without
passion. It is the driving force within all of us that allows us to continue in
our lives. Learning is a passion to everyone. It fills us up with hope and the
desire to accomplish our goals. Emily, from the Passion Project movie, said
"Learning about other cultures, other ideas, other people, learning in
general is like a passion to me." No matter how difficult it is to learn
about new stuff, it is always in us. The desire to learn is a human instinct
that gives us passion. No matter what we do, we always try to learn new stuff.
Like how to play sports, video games, cooking, or even how to edit their own
blog. For instance, Andrew from the Passion Project movie said what kind of
passion he has. “You know I always had this passion that I’d design the
building, my brother engineers it, and my dad builds it.” I think being
passionate about something is important and Andrew seems to be passionate about
designing buildings. I believe we never stop learning and that is what gives us
passion to continue. This movie made me think about all the struggles we have
to go through just to follow our passion without losing to the negative
criticism from others. With passion, it can lead to success.
Economic
success is a sign of success in life. People in society measure one’s success
with how much wealth they have acquired. Economic success is a good indicator
that someone is successful in life. They had done what is necessary to obtain a
large amount of money to show off their richness. For example, people like Bill
Gates are considered to be very successful because they are rich. This
assumption that money determines success is relatively true. For me personally,
I think it is a good way to tell if someone is on the right track in life to
prosper. Having money is a sign of success since it means someone worked hard
to become rich. In addition, Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire who created the
internationally famous social media website called Facebook and is considered
to be very successful. I think he is successful and the position that he is now
in is a good indicator. Zuckerberg is a successful person because he is
economically recognized by the people in society as a successful person.
Personal achievements are a form of success. By
accomplishing a personal goal, it creates a feeling of joy and happiness. The
achievement is a big milestone in life that a person has finally overcome. This
is a form of success since it helps make a person feel fulfilled inside. In the
book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the main character named Christopher
McCandless achieved his personal goal. “It appeared more beautiful to live low
and fare hard in many respects; and though I never did so, I went far enough to
please my imagination.” (167). I think that McCandless has achieved his
personal goal. He was successful to get to Alaska just by hitchhiking. He was
also able to reach his first goal and is admiring the beauty of it. “I am
reborn. This is my dawn. Real life has just begun.” (168). McCandless
has finally reached his personal goal and is going to continue to survive. I
think he finally reaching his goal is a big personal achievement and is
considered a success. It is considered a success because the feeling of
accomplishing something is the same as suddenly winning the lottery.
Relationships are also a success in life. Relationships
can be more than a romantic relationship. It can be a comforting relationship
or a business relationship. A relationship is one of the many things in life
that everyone needs. Without it, people can’t endure struggles or further their
career. “I think it was one of the reasons Chris and I were so close. We
learned to count on each other when Mom and dad weren’t getting along.” (107).
I think it is good to have a relationship to help endure the hardships in life.
One could only shoulder for a limited amount of time before giving up because
they have no support to encourage them. To have a relationship for comfort is a
good thing since it can give passion to be successful. “Hiking up the mountain
became a father-son tradition; they climbed Old Rag almost every year
thereafter.” (109). A successful relationship makes bonding easier. I also
ensure that there are people out there that care deeply about someone. If a
person is to be successful, they need to have successful relationships or else
life will just get harder with no support.
Personal goals help me succeed in my community. I have to
set up goals to work towards in the future or else I’ll just be wasting my life
away doing things I don’t like. To have a goal in life would help anyone
succeed if they are working hard enough to achieve it. For example, I set up
the goal to graduate high school and for the next 4 years at high school, I
worked hard to accomplish that goal and graduated. To accomplish a personal
goal creates such a good sensation. It leaves a feeling of success and helps
push us forward. For me, it is that same feeling of finally accomplishing
something that makes me strive to accomplish the rest of my goals. “I have
lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness.”
(169). Chris McCandless has accomplished his personal goal. He has finally
succeeded and knows what he wants to do in the future. I believe that by
accomplishing his own goal, he has set his way to accomplishing more personal
goals. To succeed, it is important to complete personal goals first then move
on to the bigger things. Such things could be improving society or helping
other. Bottom line is, if your life goal isn’t accomplished then there is no
point in helping others if your life is just as hopeless as the others.
Money limits people’s success. Money is an indicator of
success but it can also be a person’s biggest obstacle. Without money, the
first step towards success is really hard. For me it was a big issue because
college cost a lot of money. This big issue is a struggle for many students
just like me. For example, in the book Bread
Givers by Anzia Yezierska, Sara the main character struggled to pay for
college and had to work to pay for it. I think money issues are the biggest
problems a college student has to go through. It is ironic that one of the
things that define success also hinders it. Without money to start, success
will be a longer journey to achieve. Sara is poor and had to work just to make
enough money to attend college and will have to continue to do so if she wants
to earn enough money to attend her courses to graduate. Also, Chris’s father,
Walt McCandless, struggled to pay for college as well. “To make ends meet, he
held down an assortment of part-time jobs through college…” (105). Even though
McCandless is a smart and eventually a wealthy man, he still struggled because
he had no money. I think money is the key since it is a resource that everyone
needs to make the first step. With money, a person can get the best education
and pursue what they want to pursue. This will lead to success in the future
and a prosperous life.
Transportation is a major problem that interferes with
success. Even if a person is successful, it will be a problem if they can’t get
to their jobs or appointments on time. To have transportation is an essential
component to success since it means a person can get around easier to get
better opportunities. Without transportation, it is difficult to be successful.
For example, Chris McCandless abandoned his car after a flash flood hit it and
resumed his journey on foot. “But there was a way to avoid such aggravation: He
could simply abandon the Datsun and resume his odyssey on foot.” (29). I think
this loss of transportation has set his journey back. McCandless now has to
walk and hitchhike to Alaska which would consume a lot more time. It also made
his journey longer to the point where it took him 2 years to reach Alaska. If
he still had his car, he could have reached it in about a month or two. I take
the bus and bart every day to get to school and it is a huge pain. I am
fortunate to have them since it is a public transportation accessible by
everyone. “I’ve been stuck here for a couple of days now, trying to get a
lift.” (158). I think the lack of transportation is a major setback to success.
For McCandless’s case, he can’t get to his destination fast enough and had to
wait for days just for a ride. For me it is a big setback since I can’t get to
school on time or I will have trouble getting to school. That is why
transportation is a huge limit factor in my life. There will always be
struggles in our paths and there are any ways to address the issues.
One
of the challenges that I had to face is time management. It is to fix a
schedule to work around so everything in life could be in order. For me it was
a nightmare since I always lose track of time. This is the main problem that
all college students and a lot of working people have to face. For example, I
had a hard time managing my time in college and it really affected my grades. I
think it is the comfort that we all grew up with. We are all so comfortable of
all the things our parents gave us that we become submerged into this false
sense of happiness that we periodically dip ourselves into and lose our time. I
lose track of time when I read books and when I play games. However, this was
momentarily fixed with a calendar/planner and I plan on using the same methods
to help me manage my time. For instance, after I started using a planner, I was
able to plan out when I will need to study and how long my break time is before
going back to studying. I believe having a planner or a calendar to manage time
is extremely useful. I used it in high school and it worked out great for me. I
also used it in my first year of UCSC and was useful to an extent. Colleges
have many surprises that come out of nowhere so it is good to have a way to
manage time and address those issues accordingly. It is also useful for
organizing days to go out with friends or to go to a party.
The
lack of passion to study for a major is another problem I had to face. Studying
for something that is not interesting is not going to ignite passion to
continue to study it. The lack of passion to continue forward is a common thing
that everyone faces. It just means that the subject being studied is not very
appealing and a new subject should be pursued. Also it is a good indicator that
it is time to change majors. For example, I studied marine biology and I don’t
have any passion for it so as a result, my grades suffered tremendously. I
believe passion is the key to succeeding because without it, we don’t really
have a goal to work towards. My lack of passion has led me off my path and it
is thanks to friends and family that I was able to find something I enjoy
studying. For instance, my friends suggested many different majors that I could
be interested in and my family had a long chat about what I would like to do
with my life. For me, it was those conversations and suggestions that help me
decide my major. The lack for passion has been removed and now I feel
passionate about studying psychology. It fascinates me how people behave and
interact in certain ways. The lack of passion is best solved by a long
meaningful conversation with love ones and friends. Talking to a counselor
helps too if those two options aren’t available.
Students should
critique education. It is important to understand how the institution they are
learning from is doing. It also allows the students to point out the flaws of
education to teachers and professors. For example, a student in the Passion
Project movie, a student named Romeo said a classroom is like a home. “In a
classroom it is like home that people can be their self and let their thoughts
and things out to other people without, without having judged.” I think this is
a good example of how we should critique education since it needs to make
students feel comfortable to be in the classroom. Critiquing education can help
the teachers learn what the flaws of the education system are and try to
incorporate ways to fix it. This will make people want to come to class and do their
work. Also, in the Passion Project movie, a member named Ray said the teachers
need to be more motivational. “If a teacher can be motivational we can we can
we can feel successful even after failing.” I think this is a good way for
teachers to address education and students. Most teachers are lazy and won’t
help the students which are a big flaw in the education system. This led to
Jeff Bliss, an 18 year old sophomore in Duncanville Texas to speak out to his
lazy teacher. I believe the teachers need to be motivational which a start in
fixing the flawed education system is. By critiquing education, a student can
better understand their career choice because they understand the education
around that specific career that they have chosen. This is why critiquing
education is very important, it points out the flaws and help the students find
their major.
Students should be asked to critique themselves. It
allows the students to see their flaws and mistakes so they can get help to
move pass it. This also allows the students to see their strong points and work
on to improve it. Those strong points can inspire people and give them passion.
For example, a counselor in my high school told us to look at ourselves to see
what we might be good at. I think this method is a brilliant way to let
students see how they think they are progressing. It also allows them to be
able to see what they need to do to continue their progress. It is effective
since the students know themselves better than anyone else. This will allow the
students to avoid or improve their weak points that can hinder their hard work.
For instance, I am very lazy which one of my weak points in life is, so in
order for me to avoid it, I’ll need to keep myself occupied with other stuff to
do. This is why the students need to critique themselves, it lets them realize
their potentials and deal breakers. I personally think it is a good way to give
students passion to continue their work and stay in school since allows them to
see their potentials. The weak points they have is up to the students if they
want to address it or for the teachers to give motivation to help them move
pass it. That is why self-critiquing is important and should be addressed if
any issues pops up.
Dreamer
is the category that I fit in. A dreamer is someone that knows what they want
to do in life. However, they don’t know how to get started and is stuck in the
middle of their dreams and starting to work towards that dream. With all the
ideas and dreams in our heads, we don’t know how to put it out there for
everyone else to see. For example, when I was in University of California Santa
Cruz, I had big dreams of being in the marine biology field so I can help the
wild life except, I don’t know how I’m going to do it. This led me to lose my passion
for that field and also got me to leave the UC. For me it was just a dream that
I felt like I could never accomplish. I know what I wanted but I just couldn’t
wrap my fingers around it to fully pursue it. In addition, during my time at
UCSC, I also added molecular biology to my major because of my class that I
took. I think this could classify me as a wanderer as well but now I have
changed my major into something that I like and will stick to. Only problem now
is that I don’t know how to get to my goal. I want to start on my path except,
but like all the dreamers, we are just sitting there with ideas in our heads
and clueless on how to start our career choice. Despite numerous times of
wandering, I have become a dreamer who has lots of ideas and hope in my head
but no idea how to take action.
Being
a dreamer is frustrating. As a dreamer, I can’t put my ideas to good use and
see how it affects people. It just sits there in my head while I watch others
grapple with the same ideas and major I have and are going towards the path of
success. Watching all of those people knowing what to do in life and then
looking back at myself and wondering: “Why can’t I move on like them?” For
instance, in the Focusing the Lasers movie, a student came to college with dreams
of being a story teller. “I want to be a story teller, that’s what I want to
do; I want to tell stories to people.” (Focusing the Lasers). The student
dreamt of telling stories to people but like all of us dreamers, we’re kind of
stuck. I think his passion to tell stories to people is really nice and the
fact that he went on to doing something that is the closest to storytelling
after the program was cut, really tells a lot of his goals. He is willing to do
whatever it takes to accomplish his goals but just need that little push to get
there or to get on the right track. For example, when I was studying marine
biology, I couldn’t get into a marine biology class so I took oceans which were
the closest thing to it and I just got stuck in that class. I think taking that
class opened my eyes up to how much I don’t know about my major. I felt
frustrated that I chose a major and don’t know how to get started. Even though
I took a class similar to my major, it just seems so distant from me and like
it just didn’t go anywhere. This angered me and at the same time made me
realize how ill prepared I was to tackle college and starting a path for
myself.
Be more open to people
can get people out of those categories and into another. By being more open to
others, a person can express themselves and could even get advices. This also
helps the other person understand why this person is stuck on his or her path.
It can also provide insight to better solutions to address the problem. For
instance, I’m very shy and because of that, I don’t express my ideas to others.
This leads me to just sit there with all those dreams in my head and not doing
anything. If I express myself some more, then it is a first step to actually
finding my path and organizing what I need to do to successfully attain my
goal. To express myself I need to talk to people and ask the teachers for help.
For instance, the student in the movie said the teachers are really good. “I
was very fortunate for all the teachers here that I had at Chabot.” (Focusing the
Laser). I think it is a good thing that teachers at Chabot are really good. It
makes me feel much more comfortable to open up to them and tell them my
problems. If the environment isn’t comfortable for someone, it will be hard for
them to open up and reveal their problems. So for me to get out of the dreamers
category and into the laser category, I will have to open up to people to tell
them my problems so they can help me become unstuck.
In conclusion, passion is a key element to success. It
helps us succeed in various ways because we are motivated. It also allows us to
move pass our struggles or step back and critique it. This will allow us to
realize what our real goal is or if this passion that we feel so strongly about
is right for us. That is how passion can lead to realization of one’s goal.
A song to celebrate a short summer break! Smile it's summertime!
