Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Fine Line Between Insanity and Passion

I was reading an article on The Sunday Times by Ms. Lee Wei Ling and one sentence she wrote striked me deeply. She said, "... it takes a streak of insanity to make life worth living." I was wondering how true was this sentence. Then I realized that it would be difficult for most of the people to understand and, even if they did, few will walk the talk.

Everyone had dreams when they were young. Everyone wanted to travel the world, parachute from 20,000ft, climb the highest mountains and conquer the greatest ocean. Many also dreamt to be pilot, astronaut, doctor, lawyers but, as we grew up, we got distracted and forgot about our dreams.

In today's environment, people become rational. We cited our responsibilities as an excuse to be conservative and allow ourselves to deviate from what we felt was ideal to do. The need to be responsible to our love ones, friends and colleagues. We fear that we would not have enough for tomorrow. We struggled to maintain our standard of living. We held tight to our baggages. Even the outdated and unwanted ones. We tried to build upon what we have without realizing that we have little. We thought that maintaining our daily routine was progress. We made ourselves happy by celebrating about our progress. We made insignificant significant.

On the other hand, the insanity within the person fuelled the fire of passion and kept focus about what they wanted to achieve. They saw that as their life mission and the reason that kept them alive. They were the most optimistic and always ready for tomorrow. They usually were those with the most fulfilling life. They achived more by having less. Those who were insane or passionate, nevermind the term, were usually the most successful.

Life is such a paradox. It takes so much wisdom to bless the insanity. No wonder not everyone can be an exceptional champion!

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