Intro

We continue with the theme of vocation and manliness.

And to weave today’s post, I use four quotations from Kierkegaard, Solzhenitsyn, Mandela and one from the message to Kobe Bryant on his retirement from the NBA.

Short Exercise 45

Study the quotations in Annex 45a.

Commentary

  1. Most young men today don’t have a passion for much in life.  We kind of just sail through from one hype to the next. (See quotes by Kierkegaard & Solzhenitsyn.)
  2. Part of the reason – perhaps the main reason! – for this state of affairs is that we have consigned ourselves to live and operate at a low-level comfort-zone that does not challenge us at all in any way.  (Quote by Mandela.)  Or looking at it from another perspective, part of the reason we don’t have passion for much in life is because we may have objectives, but we definitely lack ideals.  Most of us don’t even know what the difference between the two is!  (To remedy this, slowly read Annex 45b by Cormac Burke.)
  3. Among the few who do have a passion, many times it is not directed.  It’s like what happens when you leave a hose pipe on the ground and then open the water tap full blast. The pipe starts flailing around wildly with the force of the water rushing through it.  That’s the case with many young men who have a passion: flailing around wildly.  With no direction, no ideals.  But a lot of passion.
  4. Enter message to Kobe on his retirement from the NBA: Thank you.  Thank you for your passion, commitment and dedication to basketball. Kobe was passionate.  And his passion was obsessively directed towards his vocation to basketball (and to his family).  It’s one of the reasons he achieved so much in his life.  A laser beam is lethal because it is a lot of energy (passion) focused in a single spot (direction).
  5. Would you say that your life is passionate?  In your work and studies, in your sports and entertainment, in the way you love and take care of your family, are you passionate or are you settled and operating at a low-level comfort zone? What are your ideals in life?
  6. Do you have direction in your life?  Where are you headed?

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