[2022-11-26] Saturday Synopsis #19
This week's theme is enthusiasm―intense and eager enjoyment or interest.
I love enthusiasm: I love expressing it, and I love when one others express it to me. The answer I adore isn't "yes" but "hell yes." The response I hope to get when I ask "do you want to do this with me?" isn't "yeah, okay," but "you bet I do." The reply I seek to the statement "look what I made" isn't "that's nice" but "wow, that looks awesome."
I bought a sandwich and a coffee at a shop today. The woman who prepared the sandwich was indifferent. The man who prepared the coffee was impersonal. I won't return. In contrast, my daughter went to a store where she was met with enthusiasm, generosity and fairness. She will go back.
Genuine enthusiasm is captivating.
Quotes of the Week: Enthusiasm
I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.
― Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald
I'm more interested in arousing enthusiasm in kids than in teaching the facts. The facts may change, but that enthusiasm for exploring the world will remain with them the rest of their lives.
― Seymour Simon
Today is life―the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.
― Dale Carnegie
Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.
― Samuel Taylor Coleridge
I was lucky to marry Paul. He was a great inspiration, his enthusiasm about wine and food helped to shape my tastes, and his encouragement saw me through discouraging moments. I never would have had my career without Paul Child.
― Julia Child
Video and photo of the week: Inclusion
I love the story reflected in this week's video and in the photo below. A family took its kids to a local BMX track on practice night. At the end of the night, the parents asked the track owner whether they could push their quadriplegic daughter on the track in her all-terrain stroller. She said, "ABSOLUTELY." Now the young girl races BMX every week, with her father pushing her around the track. Her mom says, "It has changed her life and helped her find her way amidst some of life's hardest challenges." The caption at the end of the video is this: "PURE. JOY." Now that's enthusiasm!
Songs of the week: We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions
When I think of songs that exude enthusiasm, I recall the first two songs on Queen's 1977 album News of the World: "We Will Rock You" followed seamlessly by "We Are the Champions." As one music writer wrote: "If you remember singing the chorus for this song during high school pep assemblies, you’re in good company."
