Passion vs. Practicality

Passion…

Rolls smoothly off the tongue

With the whoosh of a three-hundred horsepower engine

With the unrestrained exhilaration of the battle cry

With the luscious sweetness of the lovers’ kiss

With the invincible tide of the orator’s words

With the slice of the wind turbine through crystal-clear air

Leaping,

Swirling,

Lifting one’s mind

To loftier clouds and unreached realities.

Practicality…

Clatters and contorts the tongue

With the squiggling of the graph of a stock’s value

With the clink of a coin in the beggar’s cup

With the Tacoma Narrows Bridge as it twists to collapse

With the grit of pioneers building lives in the wilderness

With that three-hundred horsepower emitting ample pollution.

Shattering,

Pressing,

Keeping one’s heart

Stuck to the narrow, burdensome track forward.

Passion and Practicality…

Where do they meet?

In the doctor’s decision of who should receive aid

In the basketball team’s strategy to win

In the confining words, “We can’t afford that”

In the need for financial donors and the need for those serving

In spreading the Gospel while meeting what’s physically lacking

In studying what one loves while considering life in general

Drilling,

Smoothing,

Aiming oneself,

To meld purpose and love in a way of life.

   Ben Skinner