South City Confessions: Do what you love, because isn't that the point?

A life without passion seems like a life devoid of fun.

Early on in the classic Sam Mendes film, Road to Perdition, a hitman and his son stop at a diner as they run from the mob after a deal goes wrong and innocent people die. Only the father goes in, due to his son still suffering from the shock of losing his brother and mother less than 24 hours ago. His dad sits down at a booth and soon locks eyes with a stranger sitting nearby.

Cold-blooded and nefarious-looking, the stranger recognizes a likeness in the hitman. It’s at this moment that he begins to understand that the stranger is also a hitman sent there to destroy everything else in his life. The collision course is undeniable and the tension even causes the father to sweat, as he thinks about the idea of his son being the next target if he doesn’t strike this stranger down first.

However, a little conversation never hurt even the most painful of finalities, as movie fans found out in Heat. A pair of adversaries sharing a table of space before an eventual confrontation leaves one of them cold always creates a more meaningful journey. There’s no hate in the bag of every good and bad standoff; just two people with different agendas who can’t avoid each other.

The stranger plays around with a camera as he talks to a fellow hitman, one with a big string attached to him sitting outside in the car. Before long, the stranger tells him about his hobby: “I shoot the dead.” In other words, he pays crime scene cops to let him step in and click a few shots before the morgue truck shows up.

Bemused and slightly frightened, the father tries to act normal, even in the presence of the Grim Reaper’s soldier, one who is gleeful about his work. The stranger doesn’t continue to be morose about it, even sounding like a kid at an adult candy store. “To do what you love… isn’t that the dream?”

Those two men would eventually have a few encounters, with the stranger/crime photographer getting the best of the dad before taking a bullet from the son in the somber yet very well-done finale. Despite the brutality of that movie’s soul, how the world is full of killers and innocents bumping into each other, I have never forgotten that one line from the paler-than ever stranger:

“To do what you love… isn’t that the dream?”

For most, it’s harder to do what you love when the day job blues and nightly duties ring the bell. It’s not a matter of paying off an officer to gain access to fun time; merely finding the minutes is a deal in itself. Fitting it in can be a hardship when an eight-to-ten hour shift covers up a third of it before the day even begins to take shape. Outside of eating, transporting yourself around town and getting back home, the time to engage in some fun for you isn’t as easy as turning on a switch.

For one, I have a ton of animals in my house. So, if I want to do what I love and that’s write a few opinions down, doing so with all of them staring or gazing at me demanding action or reaction is another roadblock. Have you ever been stared at by a pit bull, chihuahua, and beagle all at once, as they twist their head around a gate and stare around a corner to make sure I feel their eyeballs. They won’t stop me from writing, but it takes longer.

The key is to do the thing that you love, even if it’s just for 30-45 minutes a day. Find a spot, fit it in, and don’t forget about it. Don’t let an authority figure tell you that it’s not possible. They know your work life, not the rest. There have been days that were marked by a stressful moment or six at work, and getting an article written and published can be a boost to the mood and overall feel on the day. While getting the whole thing done in one spot isn’t as easy as it used to be, getting something done is the key.

The days I don’t write are lesser days, unless there’s a family event or other occasion that can equally lift the mood. While some would spit back that duty is always paramount in its place over the passionate hobby that always stands behind it, those people most likely don’t have anything to love-or they just like being unhappy and stressfully driven.

Don’t let the things that have to be done get in the way of the good stuff that means something to you. Consider this my way of mixing a scene from a great movie with an important life message. This is as deep as I will go today, because it’s Monday and I’m tired before noon. Take care, and be careful out amongst the crazies, especially the ones that have cars.