A Simple Recipe
One of the many perks of this job is the people I get to meet. When I saw a Youtube video of Ken Robinson speaking at the TED Conference, I thought, “I’d love to meet him some day.” That day came on a rainy afternoon in January, and I was not disappointed. There is nothing quite so reassuring as being around someone who is doing what he loves to do. In Ken’s case, what he loves to do is to talk about people doing what they love to do, which is what I love to talk about as well. Needless to say, there wasn’t a lot of disagreement in the room. If you haven’t had a chance to watch his interview, I encourage you to do so.
If I had a recipe for peace on earth, it would be this: everyone do what they love to do. Sounds simple, I know, but the best solutions usually are. Whenever I am around people like Ken I understand that you are always safest near the people who are the happiest, and the people who are the happiest are the ones who are doing what they love. It is an endless cycle of contentment.
The trouble always comes when we think we can’t do what we love to do. Sometimes we think other people are keeping us from doing what we love to do. Sometimes we think we could be happy if only the government would spend less money or more money. Sometimes we think we could be happy if only our husband or wife would finally show us they love us as much as they say they love us. The list goes on.
I have narrowed my list of people standing between me and what I love to do, and he frequently occupies the chair in which I now write this blog. Yet I love to write this blog, and so, for the moment anyway, He—the insidious He, the vampire He—has left the room. Oh, how simple it is. Peace is never the result of winning a battle with your fears or your enemies or your government, peace is the result of seeing there was never a battle to be fought in the first place.
