materializing passion

"in my twenties, i went to Africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce: failed programs that left people in the same or worse conditions."

-the blue sweater, j. novogratz

ad and i got into a short discussion ( thanks for cutting me off ;p ) the other day about materializing passion.
my argument: passion alone is not enough to succeed
his argument: passion is all you need

like above, there are unfortunate cases were passion blinds reality, which leads me to believe that passion will fuel actions but there are also essential elements that need to be added/subtracted to the formula (im such a mathie):

- (western superiority complex)
there has been no shortage of ethnocentric westerners building schools in developing countries that are left empty because they did not address the issue that children must spend hours each day fetching clean water, which is a basic necessity. in three cups of tea, greg mortenson makes it his life mission to build schools for balti children, but along the way also addresses the barriers to education, such as building a bridge! while his focus is building schools, he maintains the ability broaden his passion to not just building schools, but to providing education by whatever means necessary.

+ (educate yourself )
read research read read. build your knowledge.

+ (action)
passion is nothing without action. passion should always be acted upon. for those of you that know me, it's not a secret that i spend more time talking (and blogging?) than i do acting. premal shah, the president of kiva, says that his biggest regret is spending too much time (2 years) talking to people and trying to affirm his idea. and so i've decided to take my first step but there is SO much more to do. ideas/thoughts on actions i can take are very welcome =)

+ (confidence)
those of you that know me also know that i'm not the most confident person in the world. i fear failure. i have been blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people in my life that it's impossible to feel intimidated. these amazing people are also the same ones who have more confidence in myself than i do. they are the ones that truly believe in me. and through the past year, i've learned that amazing things can happen when i take leaps of faith. i had absolutely NO idea what to do when renjie took me on for the Conference on Social Entrepreneurship. i doubted my skills, knowledge and even time, but it turned out well =) passion is essential, but the confidence in self and to act upon that passion is equally, if not more, important.

= (success)
pas-sion; a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything
passion is an amazing feeling. combined with a humble western heart, deep understanding of everything pertaining to that passion, action, and the confidence to take leaps of faith, great successes will be materialized.
at least i think so =)