Passion is energy.

by Elle Vatterott, IWM serving in San Antonio, Texas.

Oprah Winfrey preaches that “Passion is energy,” and that we should “feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

I would not say that I am not a huge Oprah fan, but I enjoy her impressions on Passion, even more now that I made a point to take time to reflect on my own Passions as a mini Lenten objective.

My own “Passion enthusiasm” began when I started noticing the wonderful progress made by one of the children I tutor, PJ.  As mentioned in a previous blog entry, PJ is a spunky 9 year-old boy with dyslexia that I have the privilege to tutor. Like many other children with Learning Disabilities, his lack of reading progress is the product of his poorly funded public school district. But a lot of things have changed since I last wrote about PJ. In fact he has a new woman in his life, Sister Kathleen. 

Three days every week Sister Kathleen, a retired teacher of nearly 50 years, visits  our  ‘Visitation House’ to read with PJ for an hour after school. It’s a lot of work, especially because he has never been consistently pushed to read. Truthfully, I anticipated PJ thoroughly resisting the whole idea of extra tutoring. However, it appears the loads of encouragement and praise he receives from Visitation House staff is having the desired effect.  PJ’s self-esteem is growing,  largely due to Sister Kathleen’s efforts.

This experience - watching the interactions between Sister Kathleen and PJ - has taught me that a person serves others with the greatest results when they enjoy the task assumed.   It is so admirable to me, that after such an extensive teaching career, Sister Kathleen still has the energy and enthusiasm to take on such a challenging task. She is patient, kind and totally committed to this child. This is her passion.

PJ ends each of his reading sessions with Sister Kathleen with a gigantic smile. (I wish that PJ’s sisters could develop the same joy!)  PJ, for the most part, has never experienced the gratification that comes from excelling in school.  Sister Kathleen’s presence has truly reawakened the child. She has a calming effect on PJ that has significantly decreased his reading anxiety. He now can see he IS capable of educational achievement, and the thirst for more is growing. 

My guess is that this may be a major turning point in PJ’s life. The gift of having a tutor with the patience and skills to guide a child in taking control of a learning disability is invaluable.  Good teachers have the ability to erase a child’s frustration of feeling alone in their difficult journey.  I know because I too had a "Sister Kathleen," who gave me the tools to finally succeed in school. 

It is energizing, inspiring and downright fun to be around passionate people.  I feel blessed for this opportunity to work and live among such passionate women.  It has the power to bring about major change and strengthen our spirits, even when the change we work for cannot always be seen immediately. Being around examples of passion strengthens one's - my - faith.  

Discovering my own passions and incorporating them into a fulfilling career of genuinely helping people is not as simple a process as I would like, but I continue on that journey of discovery. I guess you could say that PJ and I are both being reminded - day in and day out - that nothing really worth having in life is easily obtained!