Passion Writers

I'm not talking about ultra-trashy romance novels. I'm talking about writing with passion. Clever manipulation of words does not evoke a response. But if there's something written with passion, with heart and soul, it does not matter if it doesn't rhyme or if there's a comma in the wrong place.

While writing for this post, I was trying to think back, as to when Iraq last evoked strong feelings inside me, and why. It was sometime, early this year. The writer? Paul Lewis Hackett III. He was being swiftboated out of the Dem congressional primary race in Ohio. That one day, when I think back to it, made it crystal clear that there are indeed two Americas. One which is fighting the war, and one which isn't. One is living in Mars and the other on Venus. The crowd fighting the war, understands the reality and it chokes their heart, when they see the coffins lining up at Dover. To the rest, it's simply politics as usual. War going badly? Use it as a club to hit the President on the head. Iraq about to turn a corner? Call the Democrats 'cut and run girly boys'.

Paul Hackett, to me and many others, was a living symbol of the war realists. Others being Jim Webb and Colin Powell. See their writing. Well, maybe we best leave out Jim Webb, whose writings are, umm..., somewhat colorful, to say the least. Anyway, what I mean is that their prose is dripping with the reality of their experience and the passion of their feelings.

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership." - Colin Powell

What does that tell you? He cares.

"As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want." - Donald Duck ( Rumsfeld gave this reply to a soldier, of all people. )

What does that tell you? He doesn't.

Rumsfeld's quote is smart, short and witty. Powell's quote, long-winded and without any catchy phrases. Only difference is, behind Powell's quote is a well of emotion, indicating his strong feeling and concern for the welfare of all the kids who fight America's wars. Guess who's the better writer?

Write with your heart and soul. Write only when you feel strongly, and you have a need to write about it. If you have no feelings about a subject, do not write. Writing is a form of expression. If you have nothing to express...