Passion and anger can go hand in hand. Many times people mistake me for being angry because of my tone of voice or even my facial expressions.
I realized this a few days ago when I was having a conversation with one of my classmates and he suddenly asked me the question, “Why you always mad?”
I quickly responded with a statement that everyone in the conversation seemed to love.
The back story started with him talking about my home state.
I was sitting in the newsroom when someone brought up New York. Being from New York, I joined the conversation, when one of the people asked, “Aren’t you from Staten Island?” as if people from Staten Island have no say when it comes to knowing about New York.
I am actually from Long Island, but I felt the need to show him a map of New York. I did not show him a map of the city. Rather, I showed him a map of New York State. I explained that New York City is only a small part of New York State so everyone who says, “I’m from New York” is not referring to NYC. I asked, “If someone says they are from Pennsylvania would you automatically assume they are from Philly?”
Although it might be confusing, people need to realize that although NYC is the most popular city in the state, there are a lot more cities, towns and islands that make up New York. Some cities in New York, other than NYC include Syracuse, Albany, Ithaca and Nyack. Long Islanders are often thrown under the bus when it comes to not being “from NY.”
After teaching my lesson we went on to another topic. That is when he then looked at me weirdly and asked, “Why you always mad?”
I responded with, “I’m not mad, I’m passionate.”
My passion about his New York question caused him to think that I was angry but I was merely passionate about him learning not to judge the words “New York” as always meaning “New York City.”
Later that day it got me thinking, what is the difference between anger and passion?
There are many things that I am passionate about.
It may come across as me being angry but if someone is passionate about a specific idea or topic they usually show that passion with strong emotions.
If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not passionate about equality, he would have never given the “I have a dream” speech.
If rappers were not passionate about their situations and their music, their songs would be monotone.
If Obama was not passionate about bringing change during his “Yes we can” campaign, he would not have become the first black president of the United States.
So no, I am not angry when I speak about certain topics, but if you hear anger in my voice it means that I am passionate about something and history shows that passion leads to progress.
Anger can lead to passion but passion leads to change and in this crazy world we need people who are passionate enough to make a change.
