❤️ Passion is for People
Letter 184: People love you back. Things don’t.
If you are new here or missed last week's edition, you can catch up on the past letters here. If you are reading this for the first time, I’d love you to sign up below to join the other learn-it-alls:
Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from Honolulu, Hawaii
I walked two laper-oonis around Le’ahi, also known as Diamond Head, on Sunday. It was a glorious way to start my day. I cannot wait for more long walks in this year.
Then I went to a wedding to watch two friends I met on my 26th birthday get married. Rebecca was a barefoot bride who skipped down the alter with her newlywed husband. It was overlooking Chinaman’s hat, aka Mokoli'i, that I want to swim 1/2 mile to someday soon (if the winds die down and the mating Tiger Sharks leave). The fella who served me my fish dinner was easy on my eyes. The dance party with glow sticks, laser beams, and bunny ears was three hours long, and my feet were blistered. There are worse problems to have.
For this week’s letter, I planned to write something Austin-centric from one of my favorite trips off-island this year, but for some reason, my excitement vanished. So, instead, I’m going to share one of the daily poems I’ve written for my “Poems for the People” project I started as my Notecards in November habit.
Last thought: I’m doing another 12-hour walk adventure sometime in the last week of November. If you’re interested, let me know, and we could walk virtually together!
Now, let’s dive into letter 184 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
📸 Photo of the Week
📜🖋 Poetry Corner
Chase sunsets and pour passion Into people you love. Keep making them giggle, Surfacing their excitement, And sharing intimate thoughts. People love you back. Things don’t. Learn to coddle and be cozy Like a chai latte full of frothed milk Between your fingers on a frigid morning Radiate that warmth and energy. People love you back. Things don’t. Life without love is dark, Like an empty, unfurnished room. Or a soggy towel that used to be plush That now is cold and damp. People love you back. Things don’t. Your energy is taken by work Created without a beating heart, So jobs and contracts can freely dart And leave you without a warm hug. People love you back. Things don’t. Cherish your sisters Write letters to your elders Tightly embrace your brothers Connect the web of your community People love you back. Things don’t. Passion is for people you love.
🎧Listening
Beautiful Thing by Grace VanderWaal
I could stay with you for hours
In an empty room
And never get bored
Never have nothing to doYou're my other half
You're what makes me me
What makes me smile
When I fall down and can't get back, get back, get back up
On my feet
Without you here, I am boring
Something inside you is triggering
It makes me myself
Makes me funnyYou're a beautiful thing
We're a beautiful thing together
Even when the weather is low
You're a beautiful thing
We're a beautiful thing together
Even when the weather is low
We find the rainbow
Up in the sky
You'd say, "Don't you cry, it's all gonna be alright"
🔍Word to define
Passion: strong and barely controllable emotion
The state of the mind when it is powerfully acted upon and influenced by something external to itself; the state of any particular faculty which, under such conditions, becomes extremely sensitive or uncontrollably excited; any emotion or sentiment (specifically, love or anger) in a state of abnormal or controlling activity; an extreme or inordinate desire; also, the capacity or susceptibility of being so affected; as, to be in a passion; the passions of love, hate, jealously, wrath, ambition, avarice, fear, etc.; a passion for war, or for drink; an orator should have passion as well as rhetorical skill. "A passion fond even to idolatry." Macaulay. "Her passion is to seek roses." Lady M. W. Montagu. (Webster’s 1913)
Etymology
c. 1200, "the sufferings of Christ on the Cross; the death of Christ," from Old French passion "Christ's passion, physical suffering" (10c.), from Late Latin passionem (nominative passio) "suffering, enduring," from past-participle stem of Latin pati "to endure, undergo, experience," a word of uncertain origin. The notion is "that which must be endured." (Etymology Online)
To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible proofs.
Acts i. 3
🌟Quote to inspire
“The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”
― Audrey Hepburn, Flemish film and fashion icon 1929- 1993
🙏 Shoutouts
To Siesta in the Storm for inspiring much of this poem on our adventure together last week
To all the Write of Passage friends, I got to meet last week
To all the heroes I met at Brian Johnson’s Areté book launch event
I appreciate you reading this!
If ideas resonated, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetjl@gmail.com. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.
Never stop learning 😁
Mahalo 🌺
Jen
PS - If you missed last week, I wrote about 😴 The Art of the Afternoon Nap
If you’re reading this because someone shared this newsletter with you, welcome! I’d love it if you subscribed: