Some of you may already know this, but I am a native Italian.  Yep, born in the beautiful country of Italy.  The cool thing about being born there is that I am from the far southern region of Italy. It’s known as Calabria

What a great place.  My parents and youngest sister still live there and I visit as often as I can which at this point is about once a year.  There is a distinct difference between north and south.  Northern Italy has become ‘Americanized’ with the shopping, the large factories, congested highways, Starbucks.  Actually there are no Starbucks in Italy, so let’s say McDonald’s instead.  The south on the other hand has held its traditions and culture.  The chains have typically stayed away from the south. 

As I was saying though the cool thing about being from the south is that in as much as most Italians are passionate people, the southerners I think are even more passionate about things in general.  We’re passionate about family, passionate about our mothers, our women and our soccer (the round ball with the checkers not the brown pigskin)

I miss the heated debates we use to have at my dad’s house which are now reserved for the occasional visit.  The funny thing is that right or wrong about any point being made, everyone argued his or her point of view.  You could feel the passion about what they thought and more so you could see it was how they FELT.  There was conviction. There was power behind what everyone said. 

It’s really amusing to see my parents get together with my aunt and uncle once or twice a week to play cards.  If you didn’t know any better, you would think that they hated each other.  They would call each other names and accuse each other of cheating.  And when they’re done my parents would always say that they will never play cards again because of something said. And yet, a few days later, there they are ready to go at it again.   Watching them, you can see the passion … the passion to win.

So what’s your passion?  Do you know, truly know what you are passionate about?   What do you love to do?  What fires you up?  It doesn’t have to be work related. 

My passion is children.  I love children.  They are sincere and innocent.  They haven’t been tainted with the scars of life.  They are pure love.  They aren’t aware of fear, or hate or judgment.  They are pure.  They have passion also. They scream when they need changing and they cry or scream if they’re hungry (with passion I might add) but it’s pure love. They know nothing else. We once were the exact same way.   What drives you? 

I realized what my passion was not long ago when my daughter Laura was hospitalized.  I saw firsthand the suffering that children went through. To see a child around the age of four or five walking around the corridors looking like they hadn’t eaten in months, using an IV pole to support them just tore my heart up.  Although age isn’t relevant when it comes to children suffering, seeing them in a helpless state was very difficult.  That’s when I knew there had to be more.  It couldn’t be that children came here to suffer like this.  So in my small way I have been making changes and doing things that I know in the long run will help a child or hopefully thousands of children live healthier lives.

So again, what is your passion?  I suggest you take a few minutes, meditate on what you truly feel passionate about and take a stand for what motivates and drives you.  You’ll find that discovering your passion and more importantly living your passion will give you an amazing new perspective on life.