Bizarrely, it is not. I LOVE watching the Olympics. I have no idea why. I suppose it has a lot to do with the concept of 'watching', which means that I don't actually have to run that far / jump that high / lift that much, as well as the concept of the fact that it is merely a pleasure to watch people do things who are extremely, extremely good at what they do.
The fact that they are often very attractive physically is a nice added bonus.
But it got me to wondering -- is the idea of watching someone who is extremely good at something apply to everything? I work in an environment where I am surrounded by people who have spent years honing what they do, and I admit I get a certain frisson of excitement when I get to talk to them about what they do. It's not the watching them DO it, though -- it's more the way their faces light up when they talk about something they are very passionate about.
Way back many years ago, I wrote a personal ad online and I believe that somewhere within that write-up was something about 'must be passionate about something -- I don't care what, but something.' A friend of mine pointed out that this could have led me down some very eccentric paths, given the online dating world, but the fact is that that passionate drive, that meditation-like fixing on a certain something is a trait that I love and value. I get that way when I am writing something, here or at work, that I know is great. When the words just come together just so, fitting together like a beautiful puzzle, tripping after one another, effortlessly coming, it's a beautiful thing. And watching someone have that experience is somewhat akin to having it yourself.
Perhaps it's the same as the Olympics. That they do this for the very passion of it. There's no reward at the end, for many of them, save the satisfaction of doing something they love very much very very well.
It makes me want to write more.
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