Bird Droppings May 11, 2011
Getting the passion back

When I walked in to work this morning the air was calm almost peaceful as I walked our dog down the driveway and through the yard. In the distance a great horned owl called several times and a bullfrog bellowed from the bottom land across the way. For several weeks we have had whippoorwill calling contests and five or six around d the area spend a large portion of the night echoing through the trees. Sadly the crickets and tree frogs are still not quite warm enough even though the air was near sixty eight today as I started this morning.
Over the past few days I have asked several friends about the understanding of the words passion and obsession. Are there similarities are they different as I looked at these two words. I think as I ponder today that there a fine line between the two. I wondered as I went through the day yesterday thinking about a line in a memo that truly caught my attention, something to the effect of getting the passion back.

“Love is something you and I must have. We must have it because our spirit feeds upon it. We must have it because without it we would become weak and faint. Without love our self esteem weakens. Without it our courage fails. Without love we cannot longer confidently look out at the world. We turn inward to feed upon our own personalities, and little by little we destroy ourselves. With it we are creative. With it we march tirelessly. With it and with it alone we are able to sacrifice for others.” Chief Dan George

It has been nearly thirty years since chief Dan George passed away. Some of my favorite movies featured this amazing man usually playing an old Native American. Coincidently he did not start acting till he was seventy one. Before his death he was honored by several universities in the United States and Canada with honorary doctorates. Dan George was the Chief of the Salish tribe of British Columbia. During his lifetime he lived with passion and with a love of mankind and life in his heart.

“We have taken so much from your culture; I wish you had taken something from ours…for there were some beautiful and good things within it. Perhaps now that the time has come, we are fearful that what you take will be lost….I shall grab the instruments of the white man’s success: His education, his skills, and society. If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys.” Chief Dan George, from a lament for Confederation

I pondered these words sitting here this morning wondering why I had so much on my mind. Perhaps it is knowing that there are pieces to my own puzzle needing to fall in place for me to complete my mission. I read over and over the last line, “what one fears one destroys”. In the work place so often change creates fear and in that we seek to destroy that which is creating the fear often without truly trying to understand what it is we are destroying. Today I was in such a dilemma I worked through ideas and issues only to continually be bound in the superficiality of the events. I was never bale to raise my head up to get a breath I was drowning on dry land. But as I looked deeper in and so often we can let our passion lead us into obsession. So often we can take love and forget for a moment that our passion is driven by love and slip into losing touch with why we were where we are, for example my own teaching. My friends earlier today said obsession is when you lose control and passion is when you put your heart into something.

“O Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, I come to you as one of your many children. I need your strength and your wisdom. Make me strong not to be superior to my brother, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself” Chief Dan George

In my class for a lesson we were looking at legends or myths. I used the movie Hidalgo, legend of the greatest long distant rider who ever lived and his great mustang Hidalgo. The movie is based on a true story that just happens to be difficult to prove. I used as one days lesson getting closer to home looking for and researching Frank Hopkins and the story of Hidalgo. Here in Georgia we have our own from not too many years ago the “Goatman” another legend of sorts. Back in the 1950 and 60’s Ches McCartney traveled the country with his goats. He had a team of big billies pulling his wagons and the rest trailed along. He was an itinerant preacher as the story goes spreading the word. Along the way he would do odd jobs for spare cash and always would invite folks to his camp although Ches was also know to be rather ripe smelling living with goats.
I was wandering and thinking of a role played in a movie by Chief Dan George where he portrays the ancient Chief Lone Wattie in one of my favorite movies “The outlaw Josie Wales”. The old man is constantly being snuck up on and at eighty years of age Dan George portrayed Lone Wattie. It was for Dan George that he lived each moment of his life with passion and with love and faith in his fellow man.

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,
the dewdrop on the flower, speaks to me.
The strength of the fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away, they speak to me
and my heart soars.

By Chief Dan George

How do we get back the passion? Jokingly many of my kids will come in and say “Bird I love you” as I think back perhaps that is how and why we do get along there is a love involved, a trust a mutual respect. A student I have worked with now for four years was to be tested and he resisted finally after several months he said he would only if he could test first period. It turned out a different school psychologist than who normally tests in our building and who was unfamiliar with his case had a run in with him. My agreement and the students understanding since he did not want to miss the classes he was having trouble in was to test first period instead he was called out of fourth and upset. I received this email that bothered me this person a former school psychologist had spent less than two minutes with this student and wanted him suspended and or worse. Not knowing any of the details of four years of keeping him in school and passing. We had spent too much time and too much work and sadly too little concern took away any passion, any love and we destroy that which we fear. Eventually we worked it out and he graduated.

The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.
The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
speaks to me.
The faintness of the stars,
the freshness of the morning,
the dew drop on the flower,
speaks to me.
The strength of fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
They speak to me.
And my heart soars.

By Chief Dan George

We get passion back by looking for it and by seeking it out. We get it back by rekindling the fires in our hearts and souls. e get the passion back by being able to respond when someone says “I love you” without sarcasm but looking at a window of trust and seeing more than words. We can find the passion by being there and here and holding our head up maybe when we ought to lay it down. We can get back the passion when our heart soars. I ask as I do everyday to please keep all in harms way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird