Showing That You Care

"The only ones for me are the mad ones..." -- Jack Kerouac, On the Road

I'll withhold name and rank to write this, and I'll just say that someone I work with tends to be VERY intense, and I can see where it often rubs people the wrong way -- it's the kind of thing where you can look around and see that everyone in the room *gets* it but him.

The conventional wisdom is that he overdoes it, needs to let go, needs to *chill out*...you get the idea.

I, however, take the opposite tack.

In fact, I'm inspired by it. All it shows me is that the man loves his life's work, cares tremendously about it, and hates to see anyone else screwing it up in any way -- trivial or great, real or imagined.

I don't necessarily enjoy being chewed out, but when it comes, it's usually for good reason. I don't necessarily enjoy seeing someone else lose his temper, but I'd rather work with someone who sometimes gets teed off than someone who never does. It's no different with friendships, relationships, or anything else...when I see someone who's upset, I see someone who cares.

By contrast, when I see someone who never seems to get upset -- or even excited at all -- about anything, I worry. I start to wonder whether there's any spark there. At some point, I wonder whether the person even gives a rip to begin with.

I'll own the fact that I'm passionate, that I care about things that I become involved with, and that I wear it on my sleeve. It's in my nature and I can't help it.

I don't think it spills over onto others in a negative way, but if I were in the position of the person I was describing in the first paragraph, it might. As I said a couple entries ago, it's tough to be the one in charge. From the lieutenant level on the food chain, I realize it and respect it.

And if I ever become *that* Colonel someday, I'll be coming from the same place.