Sunday, March 6, 2011

On Passion

My current journey is no accident. I am seeking out individual entrepreneurs because I find passion contagious and entrepreneurs are passionate people. They have to be if there is any hope of them seeing their project, their baby, through to the very end. I came back to my apartment late on Friday, late enough that I was looking forward to going straight to bed. There was a three-person gathering in the lobby and they invited me to join. It turns out that one of my neighbors, a guy that must be in his mid sixties, is a biotech entrepreneur. Sure I was exhausted, but the excitement in his voice energized me so much that I stayed up another two hours talking to him.

He shared some details about his project with me: It turns out that he has been developing and refining technology for recycling wastewater for 20 years!!! This is a man that sees a real problem in the world around him (pollution) and has devoted a great amount of time and energy towards doing something about it. I wish him the best, but with the understanding that he already has something exceedingly valuable. That spark in his eye...It's both rare and wonderful. I know because I have spent the last few years chasing after it. I picked the topic for my thesis based on a class taught by Professor Barbezat, but it wasn't the syllabus that inspired me. Instead, I was captivated by the positive energy he gave off when talking about something that he clearly thought was just super cool.

Passion: To me, it is the meaning of life, the joie de vivre, the big picture.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the update Alex, you captured the description well. Its not about the business, or the riches, but about that Promethean desire to share a flame with the world.

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