From the archives
People are spending so much of their lives doing things they’d rather not be doing. I’m not sure if all of history has been like this, but now at least it seems that a big chunk of the populace is being forced to do things for which they have no passion.
In fact, the very word “passion” has begun to take on a slightly pejorative quality: fit of passion, overcome by passion, passionate love affair, and so on. It’s as though passion itself has been designated an uncontrollable force, a dangerous and all-consuming state of mind that endangers stability. the subtle message is one of danger and we are educated to avoid dangerous things as much as possible.
This has a blanching effect which is insidiously demoralizing. after all, white slaveowners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were quick to outlaw drums and dancing among their chattel because the slaves were passionate about these things and the influx of such energy among the subservient was a very dangerous thing.
Slowly, it seems, the spirit goes out of people as day after day their lives spool away behind them leaving a trail of tepid action exchanged for money. hobbies are looked at as something extra, and even those who show passion in their extracurricular activities are looked at as kooks. Slowly, it seems, the spirit drains away like lukewarm water swirling lazily down a bathtub drain.
Yet the passion remains, albeit untapped. in the post-victory celebration of an important game, a riot is liable to break out, especially in the pent-up inner cities and torrid television drama is as popular as ever. Day upon day the untapped passion like water into a balloon.