Give a Damn

On how the people I admire most are the one who push past feeling

Feelings are free.
You can feel however you want about anything you want.
You can care. You can have compassion. You can even have conviction.
You can have all the feelings you could ever want to feel,
These can even be the strongest, most genuine types of feelings.
You can have all of these,
And still not have done a damn thing.

I’m an emotional human.
I feel all the feelings. All the time.
It can feel exhausting.
It feels like work, but it isn’t.
Feelings are important. But they aren’t work.
Feelings are just feelings.

I’ve grown in my admiration of people who push past feeling.
Sure, these people I revere care. They have compassion. They have conviction.
I’ve met many wonderful people who have all these feelings.
I’ve met many more who can fake these feelings…at least for a while.

But the humans I most want to be like are the ones who go beyond emotions.
They’re the ones who turn their care into action.
They give their time, or their talent, or their treasure.
Much of the time, they give all three.
They give of themselves. Sometimes all of themselves.
They give a damn.

Giving a damn costs you something.
It’s active. It’s action.
It’s actually giving of yourself for something other than yourself.
Giving a damn isn’t afraid of the nitty gritty.
It’s not afraid of getting into the depths of the mud and muck.
It’s ready to roll up its sleeves and get its hands dirty.

Giving a damn is more than just feeling.

Giving a damn turns conviction into contribution.