A Passionate Purpose

Who’s the odd man out in this picture?! As usual it’s me!

Last week I had back to back meetings with two of my buddies both of whom are doing way cooler things than me. They had never met before and never would have had I not, by happenstance, had them scheduled this way.

Roger is a minister serving the youth in the community he grew up in in Elgin IL while Ramon is a youth pastor serving in Cabo San Lucas MX. I love kids and that’s how I became friends with both of them. They each, in their own way and in their own parts of the globe are doing great things serving your future and mine, which is our youth. With the destruction of the traditional family and the lack of male role models, particularly in impoverished areas, the need for the work men like Roger and Ramon are doing has never been greater.

Here’s the kicker and why I’m even bothering to share this story. These guys are two of the happiest and content people I know. I know a lot of people but few of them have the passion of purpose these two do. That’s saying a lot. If there is one thing everyone should aspire to do it would be to do something, anything with a passionate purpose. Agreed? I don’t know why than that isn’t THE message we are charged with passing down to all generations. Find your purpose and pursue it passionately!

Instead we preach as we were preached too. Get good grades, go to college, get good grades again so you can get a good job.

WHAT A JOKE!

Happiness with a “good job” happens about as often as getting “good grades” leads to getting a good job!

Think about that one than answer this.

Why does our society still preach something (good grades = good job = happiness) when, by far, we know that’s the exception to the rule today? There’s nothing wrong with earning good grades and certainly nothing wrong with landing a good job that pays the bills but neither, necessarily, produces happiness in those who pursue it. So why do we still say it does?! That is unless you disagree with what I’m saying? For clarity here’s exactly what I’m saying that more often than not goes unsaid or at least unheard.

Having a passionate purpose produces happiness 100% of the time. So why don’t we say that if indeed we know that?!

Roger and Ramon have committed themselves to what they do in a way few others ever will doing what they do. In turn they have the privilege of experiencing life living with passion.

To me they have achieved the elusive holy grail of a life, that’s living a life serving a higher purpose.

What better example could there be to kids searching for direction who desperately need a purpose to pursue than these two?!

Society needs to prioritize and value pursuing your passion rather than pursuing an arbitrary definition of success that may (or more probably than not) not lead to it.

Money, status and success are worthy pursuits only in the context in which you subscribe them. All who know them would say these men are rich beyond measure because of their pursuits.

And in turn I’m richer too for knowing them.

In that regard I’m far from alone.