I heard a couple of funny statements today, from different people, that got me thinking:

“Last I heard, I’m not stupid, so–“

and

“I’m the most passionate person you’ll ever meet.”

It seems to me that ‘stupid’, like ‘crazy’, is not a diagnosis that can be reached by self-assessment. If it turns out that you actually ARE one of those things, then your objectivity completely dissipates, and your opinion is meaningless. Besides, it’s not very likely that any adult person is going to walk up to you and say, “Wow. . .you’re genuinely a stupid person,” even if you are one. That rarely happens in adult life. It happens all too frequently between children on the playground, and practically everywhere on the Web–anonymous blog hecklers and message-board flamers come to mind–but that kind of thing is very rare in society. In many cases, stupidity and craziness can run unchecked for decades, but because “last they heard” the person saw him- or herself as an enlightened super-genius, the myth gets perpetuated forever.

Same thing with ‘passionate.’ I’m lucky enough to know quite a few very passionate people, and the thing about them is that they don’t need to tell anybody how passionate they are, they just go and live their lives passionately. I get the feeling that the person who made that statement actually meant ostentatious; interested more in the outward display rather than motivated by genuine impulse.

This entry may sound a bit cynical, but I just immediately felt that those statements didn’t ring true, so I wanted to dissect them a little bit, and figure out why they bothered me so much. But then I suppose that anyone who has met my dad would understand why that particular brand of braggadocio would send a chill up my spine.

People who are genuinely intelligent, passionate, and well-adjusted would never dream of bragging about possessing those qualities. In fact, they’re often the most humble people you will ever meet. They choose to put the energy into their life, as opposed to making a flashy show out of everything, or talking endlessly about how much they know about a subject, or how they wish they could be doing something ‘if only–‘.

The point of all this is that if there’s something you’re passionate about, or that you would like to achieve in your lifetime, then stop talking about it, and just start doing the things you need to do in order to make it happen. It may be something small and simple, or it may be something huge and life-altering, but it can be done, whatever it is. Give yourself permission to do it, and then it will start happening for you, as if by magic. But it ain’t magic; not by a long shot. It’s constant vigilance and attention to everything.

God–not the devil–is in the details.