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Passion or money? #lifesbigquestions

Karen Poh

Mon Aug 23 2010

money


THERE were a lot more questions than we had time to answer, but we’d really like to give a big shout out to all who took part in last Wednesday’s Life’s Big Questions series.

Here were some of the winners who certainly scored on the humour factor:

@nessamonster: I don’t think yellow lollies are anybody’s favourite, why are they still being made and sold? #lifesbigquestions

@maltheninja: I wonder why soda crackers have holes in them? #lifesbigquestions

To which it got me thinking – why do we eat artificially coloured food anyway?

But moving on from the whimsical to the more searching and profound, we had a lively debate going on Facebook on the question of “Passion or money?”

Some of you said:

Passion, but money always seems to get in the way.

Passion, but we all know money is a resource… I think being Gen Y/the microwave generation, we often think we have to choose because we’re all about the now. Maybe we don’t, but it just takes a while to get there – the whole timing and perseverance factor.

Passion for money?

Money for passion sounds like a better deal to me.

On Meld’s web poll, only 1 per cent of voters said high pay was more important compared to the 54 per cent who said job satisfaction was more important. Another 42 per cent asked if it was possible to have both?

Is it impossible to have both?

I’d like to think not. But I do think we sometimes have a misguided idea of what passion really is about.

No doubt language has evolved, and this idea may be somewhat out of fashion now, but I think there is wisdom in returning to the origin of the word passion, which used to mean suffering, or endurance.

Not an infatuation over what we think we like, but a persistent pursuit of what we love and believe is worth investing our time into.

In other words, passion gives us the drive to become not just good, but great at what we do. It cultivates in us the spirit of excellence, the genius to innovate, the courage to push new frontiers because we have vision, because we can see further afield.

It enables us to not just do a job, but engage in meaningful labour. And surely, by investing our talents that way, won’t it make others sit up and take notice, make us more employable (or self-employed) and provide us with the monetary returns we hoped for?

Tell us what you think by dropping us a line in the comments box below, and follow us on Twitter @meldmagazine #lifesbigquestions as we bring the discussions to you live every Wednesday from 8pm.

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