Passion
My friend, fellow writer, and college roommate Matt recently posted beautifully about Pakistan and his love for it. A couple of excerpts:
Things I’ve learned from living in Pakistan:
• Traveler’s diarrhea is a temporary affliction.
• Urdu language books and Urdu speakers do not necessarily agree.
• Gvaar, tinday and bindi are not cities in Asia, but vegetables.
• Malaria is a perfect weight-loss system.
Continuing on:
I also want to add something that may not have been obvious to me when I first wrote this. Pakistan is a good place. It really is a good, nice place… But it’s a good place. And I love it. I love it so much that I get angry when I see the problems it is forced to endure. I love it so much that I’d be willing to rock the boat to see those problems solved. So I’m going to move back there and do my part, whatever that part may be. Because I love it. Do you love anything so much that you’d be willing to hurt it to make it better?
It was a beautiful post, and one that made me think. I’m not sure what I’m passionate about in that way. I’m passionate about caring for my family and I’m passionate about learning to tell stories that reflect truth. Somehow that doesn’t feel as geo-political as Matt’s love for Pakistan. Maybe that’s okay–or maybe this is an opportunity for me to re-evaluate the things I’m passionate about.
I admire Matt’s passion, but with what’s happening in Pakistan currently, it sure is providential that they are currently in Canada. Well, I’ll bet his parents agree anyway.
And I wonder what he means by rocking the boat–it doesn’t seem that you can do too much boat rocking there before you’re tossed overboard to the sharks.