My passion

I came across a simple question in my reading just now:  What is my passion/purpose?  Hmmm...  Good question.  My undergrad degree was in philosophy so I've thought about the purpose of life or existence but I have to say, honestly, I have never thought about what my passion would be.

So I started thinking.  The work I was reading suggested that I start writing down possibilities for what my passion/purpose could be and then stop when I find something that brings a tear to my eye.  Well, I am man enough to admit it had that happened but I found it pretty quickly and, although it didn't well up any tears, I was quite sure when I got to it.  The first thing I wrote down was "make a contribution".  I stared at that for a minute thinking, "Well, it should be a little more specific than that, right?"  I thought of my kids and how I'd like to help them grow up to be good and reasonable people.  I thought about philosophy and how I would like to promote rational thought.  And I thought about my work as a librarian, and then crazy words flew into my head:  SAVE THE LIBRARY.  I would like to save librarianship.  I would like to make more people understand the importance of libraries and librarians.  I would like to convince funders to do more funding, whoever they may be.  I would like the regular Joe/Joan on the street to have a better understanding and appreciation for what we do.  AND I would like for us to do better what we should and can do to maintain and streamline access to information.

Woah, right?  Big wish.  Big plan.  All you non-librarians out there may even think that it's a little silly.  (I'm hoping those in the profession don't think that.  lol)  But that's what would make me happy:  to ensure that librarians and what we do are still around in 10, 20, 50, or 100 years.

But how?  Well, some of the details of the wish suggest some of the macro-methods:  setting down the importance of librarianship and communicating it, contacting and lobbying those with the money that do and/or can support libraries, and to actively market libraries and librarians to the public.  And of course, to promote ways to improve ourselves.  We are not perfect.  No profession is.  But we, perhaps unlike many professionals, have the resources, the intelligence, and the flexibility to make those improvements.  All we really need is the plan and the desire.

Yeah...  that's what I'm talkin' about...