The Passion of Anything.

“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion”

- Georg Wilheim Friedrich

My topic for today? you guessed it, passion. Although, today I think that I’ve widened my view on what passion is and what it can do.

Earlier I got a camping drop from some people who were preaching to the prisoners. On their camping permit they had written bible verses and at first I thought they were sorta crazy, but after talking with some people I work with I have decided that these people weren’t crazy. They had a whole lot of passion. And here’s the thing, I’ve always seen passion as something you care about. I’ve never really considered religion a passion…. until I started thinking about it today. Passion is something that drives you forward, right? For me it’s success. What I live for is to be even better the next day. But really, passion can be anything. To say you’re not passionate about something is a lie.

I guess the reason why I’ve never really considered religion or God a passion is because I’m more for relationship… I don’t buy into the church scene and the weekly youthgroup gatherings. BUT if that’s what gets you out of bed and that’s the reason why you live your life, then so be it. Sing to God as loud as you want to.

I do think that this Friedrich quotation is off though. I think it should read “without GREAT passion” because everybody is living for something, but without great passion you won’t accomplish anything. These campers had a lot of passion for God, obviously. They wouldn’t be preaching to federal criminals without it.

Upon the visit of these campers a coworker and I started talking about religion and he asked me why I wear my Gandhi necklace…

I said I didn’t really have a reason except that I thought he was a cool guy. I mean I enjoy quoting him as much as possible. His outlook on life is amazing, no matter what religion you are. I’ve read parts of his autobiography and I don’t think you have to be Hindu to achieve the same kind of views he had. Just reading about him made me realize how diverse things have always been, and that it’s such a good thing.

Any way, I guess how I’m trying to relate the 2 stories together is that it’s always made me mad that people who claim to be close to God and avid church goers aren’t very tolerant of opposing views or other religions, but today maybe I figured out that sometimes it’s not that, it’s just that they are so passionate about their religion that they get a little caught up in it. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing at all. After all, that’s why you wake up every day.

Our GREAT passion stems from different things. If we were all stimulated by the same things we wouldn’t have made as big of scientific discoveries as we have and we wouldn’t be the same civilization we are.

My Party

I got back from “vacation” last night. I thought I was going to have more time to blog throughout my trip but I was pretty busy the entire time out. My trip pretty much broke down into three main parts: Camp. Wichita. Denver.

Camp:

I went to camp for speech at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS . It was amazing. I met some new amazing people and got to work with some people that have taught me so much already. I thought the great thing about camp was that it totally fired up my passion for speech again. I’m such a nerd, but I really love it. In the short time I was there I really do feel like I had a mini family because everybody was so supportive of each other the whole time. I never felt like I asked a bad question or did something horribly wrong. Their team seemed close which caused the whole group to be really close too. I hope that my team takes that whole feeling back and this season we are stronger because of that.

We also learned new warm ups which ive found myself singing randomly. haha. Only a speech nerd would relate a real situation to a warm up.

                 My team!

 

Wichita:

So we took off from Manhattan and drove 2 and a half hours to Wichita. We only got a little lost but we stayed on the purple line (GPS) and made it all in one piece. It was funny, we were in the middle of Kansas, like nothing on either side of the road but corn and we come across this hard core techno station. Kam and I were both like “what the heck?” then proceeded to jam. haha. We stayed with some really good friends of mine that used to live across the street from me but work took them to KS. We shopped and ate good food, just chilled and played legos with the kids. It was nice to just chill for a bit.

The original plan was to leave from Wichita Tuesday morning and get to Denver that night but we decided that we’d split it up into two days and drove from Wichita to Garden City Monday night and stayed there. I don’t recommend it. The whole city smelt horrible and the kids at ihop were snobby. haha. However, the Holiday Inn did have free cookies….

Denver:

We got back home around 11 o’clock which gave us a little bit of time to rest before Denver. What were we doing in Denver, might you ask? Well, we saw Kings of Leon at the Comfort Dental Amphitheatre AKA Fiddlers Green. The concert was AMAZING. If you ever get the change to see KOL live, do it. They’re so good live. The weather decided to not cooperate and rain the whole time so we were both drenched the whole night but it was worth it. The Features opened for KOL and they were pretty legit. We got a pic with the drummer. haha.

That is pretty much my trip in a nut shell. I’m wicked tired but decided to come to work today because I reallllllllly need the hours. haha. I’m sure I’ll be telling random ks stories for a while though.

I’m Young, Not Stupid.

It is easy to believe whatever you want. It is easy to say you know how things are. Unfortunately, when I know for a fact that you are full of crap and I’m 15 to oh… 40 years younger than you, I feel that you should not even talk to me. Call me cocky, call me arrogant, but if you don’t have anything intelligent to say to me then don’t say anything at all. I love hearing different view points and I simply like to learn but it’s not quite the same thing when I know that what you’re saying only has a small amount of truth to it.

For example: I work at a campground and most of the customers I deal with are retired and traveling in their campers. I think because they see me and I look young they think they automatically know more than I do, because they complain about the government A LOT. And it’s even at like the smallest level. “Prices went up, camping costs two extra dollars, our government just doesn’t understand” Um hello, you’re old didn’t you live through the depression? Sorry, I thought you would recognize an economic downturn when you saw one.

We call it inflation, did you complain when milk was no longer 4 cents a gallon too?

You have got to be kidding me.

I also had a “co worker” tell me today that if we were in Iraq for oppression then we should also save Tibet. That’s funny. As far as I’m concerned, I like having an economy in the States exist. We go to war with China and who the fuck is going to buy our debt? T-bills, anyone? Does nobody understand foreign policy…? This coworker also is one of those who has jumped on the “blame Bush” bandwagon. “Housing crisis, oh that was Bush” Really?

And then its like she sits on a pedestal because she has been to college. *rolls eyes* A major in psychology and theology and a minor in ethics does not make me believe Bush is solely responsible for the housing crisis.   I’m not saying he had no part but while we’re at it lets blame aids on him and the California condor being on the endangered species list. 

I really do get a kick out of these people. It adds a bit of comic relief to my day and boosts my ego, which I can’t say I really need but I do enjoy the feeling.

-- Kara.

I am Kara.

Finally, blogging time. I’m sitting in my serene, black and white room listening to the last few fireworks go off and thinking about what I should be writing about tonight. I haven’t blogged in a while because I haven’t had really anything to talk about, and I’m kinda in the same position tonight. lol.

As always I’ve been thinking a lot about life lately and this time I’ve been contemplating not caring what people think vs. caring about other’s opinions. My conclusion? I’m going to be me. And I guess this is all coming from a possible minor health scare I’m going through. I really don’t want to expand on it yet because it may just turn out to be nothing…. but in case it’s not I don’t wanna regret not being me to the fullest.

I’m Kara and I like peace signs, and recycling and things made from hemp. I’m Kara and when it comes to politics i sway to the right, I’ll register as a republican, I believe in raeganomics. I’m Kara and I like plaid, crocs, and antique jewelry. I work at the lake and hate camping, never have been on a boat, and can barely tell you what the fishing is like. I’m arrogant and it’s because I think it’s funny, my cockiness is a joke. I’m Kara and I work my butt off in debate and newspaper and FBLA because I am the definition of a nerd. I’m independent and will never need anybody else but me, even though there are many who I want in my life. I don’t like bright colors, unnatural light, or loud noises. I am Kara.

So I’m going to wear red just because I want to, even though it doesn’t compliment my hair. I’m going to wear my hippie peace signs and still keep my conservative beliefs. I’m going to continue to think that religion is ridiculous because I don’t need a church to pray. I’m not going to change my attitude because I like who I am.

I’m Kara, take it or leave it. I don’t care what you think of me because I’ve always known who I am, and it’s not changing.