Pursue your Passions - regardless of how boring or gross people think they are

Of all the sciences NY state forced students to take, Earth Science was by far the worst. Though a high school class, us “gifted” children (several only gifted in repelling the opposite sex) could take the class in junior high. We learned about the exciting topics of weather and rocks. And it should be noted we did not learn about natural disasters or fossils, the only two things which may have held my interest within those categories. Instead, we drew barometric pressure charts and calculated half-life. I have been alive a quarter-life and have yet to apply a half-life outside this class.

Despite the fact that not a single student showed even an iota of interest (even Venn-Diagram-loving Evan Stern), our teacher, Dr. DeWitt spoke about the topic as if he were telling us the most exciting news, which at the time would have been that Hanson was playing “ Mmmbop” at our Valentine’s Dance (I hated Hanson, I’m going with majority opinion here). Anyway, I was baffled as to how DeWitt could be so enthused about something dryer than Passover cookies. But at the dog park a few weeks ago I think I came to a conclusion.

Almost every dog at the park likes to roll in disgusting things, including dead animal parts, bodily fluids and fungus-covered trees. Despite the fact that in the Van Halen video “Right Now” it looks like that Golden Retriever is just rolling around for fun, I guarantee there was squirrel vomit or some equally foul item on that ground. At the park, Chloe seems to favor regurgitated but not fully digested food items, Champ enjoys crushed bugs and Monkey likes fruit cores and skins (including banana). Though Scout rolls in all three, poop is clearly her favorite nasty item, in both the loose and hard variations. If I glance away for just one second, there is a 93% chance Scout is rolling in some feces. There have been many a walk we have returned from early in order to hose her down. The thing is, nothing gives Scout as much joy as rolling in poop. She could do it all day every day with an enthusiasm rivaled only by Richard Simmons. Scout puts more passion into poop rolling than I do into anything. It is her Earth Science.

Who the hell was I to judge Dr. DeWitt? Who in the hell am I to judge Scout or Chloe or Bijon or Monkey? They have a passion and are whole-heartedly pursuing it – which is more than most people can say, including myself. The fact that someone, dog or human, can be overjoyed by something as simple as the water cycle or having poop smeared all over them, is actually admirable. Maybe I should stop thinking about some complicated, meaningful path I should dedicate my life to and just find something simple that I love and truly pursue it, regardless of what other people think. Though I know my thing is not physics or feces, I am not sure what it is. For now, I’ll just sit and be jealous of the pressure-charting Mr. DeWitt and gross-thing rolling dogs – we should all be so lucky to find something we truly love (other than alcohol).