2016台灣青少年領袖高峰會第二天早上，韓哲克(中層左圖)分享「熱情」講題後，由大會顧問謝智謀(中層右圖)老師回應。 (攝影/記者蔡宜倩)

▲追求熱情，往往遇到障礙，卻也成就最多！
▲熱情比興趣更深！　點燃我們付上犧牲代價的火花

沒有人因為年紀太小，而無法產生改變；沒有人因為採取的行動太渺小，而不能產生改變。

我們的世界充滿受苦的事情，絕對不缺值得關懷的問題。那是我渴望活出來的生活與世界。這個世界正在等著你。

2016台灣青少年領袖高峰會來到第二天上午，續由重量級講員－國際知名青年領袖韓哲克分享正、反兩則實際故事，以「在這世上，每件成功的事情背後的推動力與核心」為題，深入淺出替200名學員點燃對人生夢想的熱情。

【在這世上，每件成功的事情背後的推動力－熱情】

在這世上，每件成功的事情背後的推動力與核心。有些人稱它為「目的」，我稱之為「熱情」。
 
▲24小時喝完近200間星巴克的馬克

首先跟大家分享馬克的故事。馬克做兩個月的研究，打算在24小時內，拜訪紐約一個地區內共171間星巴克。
 
他不可能在24小時內，徒步走那麼多地方，所以他買了一台便宜的腳踏車。他也去到不同的店，看誰是最早、最晚開門，以及哪家店有最長的排隊人潮動線。那天起，他早上4點鐘就騎腳踏車出門了。 他算了一下發現，必須每7分鐘就到達另一間的星巴克，才能在24小時內完成這個目標；他也決定每間店都要點一些東西來吃或喝。
 
其中有一間店，已經過了他的營業時間，他只好賄賂店員80元美金，才能進去吃點東西。甚至有一段時間，他必須找他的朋友出來載他一下，因為他的身體快負荷不住，因為整天太累、喝太多咖啡。
 
終於，馬克在第二天清晨四點鐘，回到家，很快地睡著了。
 
很有趣的是，他後來接受CNN訪問時說：「事實上，我根本不喝咖啡。」所以這聽來相當瘋狂。

令我驚訝的是，當紐約媒體訪問該區星巴克發言人，對於馬克的「特技」有何想法時，他說：「我們讚賞他的熱情，也為他的創意及委身來喝采。」
 
他因為有熱情而出名，他的熱情是什麼呢？他不是對咖啡熱情，因為他說他根本不喜歡喝咖啡，但他那天至少喝了100杯，同時獲得很多知名度。
 
▲讓人出名的興趣是一種「誤導的熱情」

然而，我要稱之為「誤導的熱情」，或是「讓他出名15分鐘的『興趣』」。

他在世上出名了15分鐘，但我想問的是：他到底成就了什麼呢？我承認，他的故事很有趣；但我想，如果他能同樣地在一天內，拜訪紐約171間最大的慈善組織，做更多事情幫助別人的話，是否更有意義？
 
如果他能夠把這看起來有點愚蠢的事，去做些幫助別人的事情的話，是否更有意義？
 
一開始，我覺得他對於熱情，設立了一個很好的榜樣。但當我進一步研究才發現，他是一位正在竄起的喜劇演員兼製片。
 
熱情，似乎是他個人的興趣，讓他獲取名聲、並在演藝路上更上層樓。

這看來是有點愚蠢的例子，但我想：有時我們喜歡做的、有興趣的事，是否就因它好玩，所以我們就這麼做了？

▲熱情比興趣更深！　點燃我們付上犧牲代價的火花

我相信，言語是有它的力量跟意義，我也相信，興趣跟熱情之間，是有差異的。
 
興趣是個人的情感、你喜歡的東西。這不是壞事，但並不是什麼很偉大的事。人們對很多事情有興趣，但可能是瑣碎的事情。
 
一則分辨熱情跟興趣的好指標就是，你願不願意為它犧牲你的時間或金錢？你願不願只是為了興趣，付上你的時間、金錢，甚至生命？我想答案一定是「不」。
 
那麼，熱情到底是什麼？熱情跟興趣的差別在哪？怎樣才能擁有熱情？
 
我相信，不同的人對於「熱情」有不同的定義。

熱情，比興趣的層面更深，甚至會驅動我們，做出在這世上應當行出來的事；熱情，是我們裡面很深的感受，驅動我們做出犧牲，來完成應該完成的事。

熱情， 不可能從自己靈魂的井裡面，往裡挖深點就能挖到；也不可能今晚睡覺想說：「我再努力點，明天早上就會有熱情。」因為，熱情或目的比個人感受，還要更深刻。
 
熱情，是當有一些訊息的火花，或是一個有熱情的人靠近你，來點燃裡面的火花，讓它成為火焰。熱情是易燃的，當有熱情的人聚在一起時，會燃得更旺。
 
不過有時候，熱情會跟眾人意見或期望，背道而馳－這可能會讓我們為了某些人事站立。
 
熱情，並不是說我喜歡什麼很好玩的事情。很多跟我同齡或比我更小的人，我們很有熱情的事情，其實只能當個興趣就好；而我們覺得有興趣的事情，應該帶著熱情來做。
 
在我的世代，我們有臉書等各式社群媒體，或各式各樣我們感興趣、興奮的事情，或者某些爭執的事情，事實上可能都是一些瑣碎的小事。這是一個充滿很多「興趣」的世代，但我們是很有潛力，來點燃我們的熱情。
 
我想請問大家：你想要熱情嗎？你希望早上起來時，對人生感到興奮嗎？你渴望激發別人做出偉大的事嗎？你期待為著某件事情，興奮到睡不著覺嗎？我的答案都是「是」，我盼望你的答案也是如此。

▲棕眼的小女孩，一直禱告上帝想要藍色的眼睛

所有曾經改變世界的人都是有熱情的，很少有人非常成功卻不關心其他人的事。

有一個愛爾蘭名叫愛美(Amy)的小女孩，她出生在19世紀末期，一個虔誠基督徒家庭裡。從小她就希望：「要是我的眼睛是藍色，該有多好？！」但她的眼睛是棕色。
 
媽媽跟她說：「妳需要什麼，就跟上帝求。」上帝會照合適妳的，來應允妳。這聽來有點怪，但她如此深信著。
 
有天晚上睡前，她跪下虔誠禱告：「喔主啊！明天早上，讓我的眼精就能像蔚藍的、微笑愛爾蘭的天空吧。」

第二天早上起來，她非常興奮跑到鏡子前一看，卻還是棕色眼睛。她覺得這實在令她太痛苦了。儘管如此，她當時雖不知道，可這件事情卻影響到她人生日後一件重大發展的事。
 
在成長過程中，她也經歷過一些困難，患上一個特別的疾病－神經痛，一發作時全身痛得有如刀割。她的病讓她沒有辦法繼續工作，也導致她的家庭傾家蕩產，因而搬到別的城市去，為她籌措醫藥費。
 
雖然她的家庭過得並不容易，她仍決定出去，幫助比她家更窮困的人；她的心特別關顧身處極度貧窮的人。
 
好多次，她做了同樣的夢，夢裡面有如同靠近她床邊的聲音對她說：「去！」她因而去到很多地方，後來到了世界另一端－印度。

那裡，很多女孩子被父母親賣到廟裡當奴隸，被欺凌得相當厲害。她決定為了正義的緣故，解救這些女孩脫離這種悲慘的生活。
 
在19世紀的印度，白人女性不大可能在街上走路，而不引起注意。所以她穿上印度婦女傳統服飾－紗麗，使用茶包把自己的膚色變深。此時，她也終於知道，小時候一直禱告：「主啊，給我藍色的眼球。」那是一個錯誤的禱告。
 
因為她的棕色眼球，讓她更容易混在印度人群中，而不被發現。如果她是金髮碧眼的話，很快就會被發現了。她終於明白，以前她不喜歡自己的棕色眼球，事實上是一份「上帝的禮物」。
 
她因而拯救了數以百計的男孩、女孩，他們都叫他「媽媽」。她以這樣溫柔的愛，照顧這些小孩。

▲追求熱情，往往遇到障礙，卻也成就最多－力量、品格

每個人都覺得自己有弱點，在我們追求熱情過程中，都會遇到障礙。這些弱點，可能會攔阻我們，讓我們無法做到本來應該要做的事情，來改變世界。不過，原本擁有許多困難或軟弱的人們，透過努力的過程中，這些人卻成就了最多。
 
我們看到名人、電影明星、政治家，以為他們已經達到他們渴望完成的目標。但事實上，我們往往在克服軟弱中，得著力量，從而建立品格。
 
品格幫助我們建立自己，也幫助別人。
 
我非常確信，當熱情來自我們原來的軟弱或不容易時，所成就的將是－任何人無法否認或忽視的。我就是活生生的證明。
 
我還是孩童時，我有非常嚴重的焦慮症。當恐慌發作時，我的心跳會非常快，覺得病得很厲害，甚至覺得快要死掉了。因為太懼怕了，可能沒有任何原因，我就是怕到整個人會倒在地上，動彈不得。

這是我當時必須要經歷的事情。我找到一些人談這件事情，我後來也成長得更好。

我最大的懼怕，就是在眾人面前跟大家說話。後來事情發展的是－當我處理這樣的焦慮跟懼怕過後了解到，這世上仍有2700萬人活在奴隸中。
 
我覺得我該做些事，但我想說：「我算老幾？怎可能在大家面前講這些事情？」於是決定根據我原來的興趣，關心這些有需要的人，往前一步採取行動幫助他們。

▲帶出行動！　沒有人因行動太渺小，就不能產生改變

所以，興趣跟熱情差別在哪裡？就是「行動」。
 
我相信，當我們願意為了「熱情」採取行動時，不論是付出金錢、接受教育或跟周圍朋友分享，都能讓這個世界不再一樣。沒有人因為年紀太小，而無法產生改變；沒有人因為採取的行動太渺小，而不能產生改變。

一次一小步、一次一小步，到後來發現我們這一生，已經走了很遠的路了。
 
為了熱情而活，這樣的人生旅程會令人非常興奮。你願意加入我嗎？
 
我們的世界充滿受苦的事情，絕對不缺值得關懷的問題。那是我渴望活出來的生活與世界。這個世界正在等著你。

【韓哲克英文演講全文－PASSION】

What I want to talk about today is the core, driving force behind every successful human being on earth. Some people call this “purpose”, I call it “passion.”

I would like to tell you a story about someone named Mark. Mark spent two months planning to take 24 hours to visit all 171 Starbucks coffee shops in Manhattan, New York that are open to the public. He bought a cheap bike (because, of course, he couldn’t reach all 171 coffee shops on foot), and he went to many of the stores to research closing and opening times, as well as which ones had the longest lines. The day he began, he woke up at about 4:30 a.m., and started biking. He figured out that he had to arrive at a different Starbucks every seven minutes during those twenty hours, and he had to consume at least part of what he ordered while in the store to accomplish his goal. At one of the stores, he showed up four minutes after closing time, and had to bribe a worker eighty dollars to let him in. At one point, he even had to have a friend of his come and drive him around because his body was shutting down from the overexertion and the caffeine consumption.

Mark said that he got home at about 4 a.m. the next day and fell asleep at 7 a.m. By the way, on CNN he said, “I actually don’t drink coffee, which makes this thing completely insane.” What really struck me was the reaction of Dan Lewis, the Starbucks spokesperson of that region. When he was asked in a New York Daily News interview about Mark’s stunt he said, “We appreciate Mark’s passion, and we applaud his creativity and commitment.” So now he’s famous for being passionate, but what is he passionate about? Coffee? He said he doesn’t even drink coffee. This is what I would call a misguided passion – or an interest in his 15 minutes of fame.

Well, for a short time,  Mark was famous, but what did he accomplish? I must admit, his story sounds amusing, but wouldn’t it have been better to maybe have gone to 171 of Manhattan’s biggest organizations and raise money to do some good? What if someone like him who had the drive to do something his friends said was impossible – something that might even appear foolish -- decided to tackle something for the good of others? At first, I thought that he set a good example of what passion or drive looks like, but as I dug deeper I learned he was an aspiring comedian and filmmaker.  His “passion” turned out to really be an interest in getting some attention that might help launch his career.

I wonder if sometimes we embrace something as an interest or passion just because it’s odd, or just because it will get us attention, or just because.

I believe words have meaning and power.  I think there is a difference between interest and passion. Interest is purely emotional or intellectual; purely human. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it is not necessarily good either. People are interested in many things – and many of them are trivial and small.

One good way to measure whether something is an interest or a passion, is to ask would I sacrifice for my interests? Would I give away money and time and blood to a cause that I merely express interest in?” I think the answer is no.

So, what is passion, really? And if it’s different from interest, and interest is a human feeling, then where does passion come from? I’m sure others may have a different definition of passion, and they’ve probably lived more years than I and have greater wisdom, but for our purpose today, let’s consider that passion is deeper than interest.  Let’s even say that our passion drives us to do our life’s work – the very thing we may be on this earth for. It is a stirring deep in us that moves us to make sacrifices to further that passion.  You can’t just dig down deep inside and try to somehow draw out passion from the well of your soul.  You can’t go to bed tonight hoping that if you try hard enough you will be more passionate tomorrow, because passion is so much more than a simple, human feeling. 

Passion is ignited when a spark of information – or someone else’s passion – gets close enough to your heart to cause your passion to burst into flame. Passion is flammable and it tends to grow when the flames are gathered together.

Sometimes, passion may require going against the grain, against the opinions of many others. It might result in us sticking up for something or someone no matter what the cost. Passion, unlike interest, does not come from merely liking something or having fun while doing it. Passion is ultimately being willing to give up something of ourselves – our time, our resources, our comfort, for something or someone.

It sometimes seems that the things people my age and younger are passionate about are things that we should simply be interested in, and the things that we are interested in are things that we should truly be passionate about. Think about the social media life of my generation (and perhaps many of you as well.) The things we get excited about – the things we spend our energy on – the things we argue about may be very petty. Sometimes we need to turn it upside down. We need to be passionate about the things that matter, and interested in the things that are temporary. My generation is a very interested generation, but we have such amazing potential for passion.

Do you want to be passionate? Do you want to be excited to wake up  in the morning? Do you want to inspire others to greatness? Do you wish you were so excited about a project or a purpose that you had a hard time getting to sleep at night?  I know my answer is yes to each of these questions. I hope yours is, too. If you’ll stick with me through this talk I think you’ll find these stories will ignite a passion within you.

Anyone. who has ever changed the world has been passionate. There are very few people who have been wildly successful or helped a lot of people without it being something they care about very deeply. Here’s an example. There once was a little Irish girl named Amy. Amy Carmichael grew up in the late 1800s as the oldest daughter of two devout Christians in Ireland. As a little girl, Amy desperately wanted blue eyes, but her eyes were brown. She had been taught by her mother that if she prayed, God would answer – I know this may sound strange to some of you, but this was Amy’s deeply held belief. So one night, before bed, Amy prayed that God would give her eyes of “smiling Irish blue.” In the morning, she expectantly hopped out of bed and ran to the mirror only to find out that her eyes were still brown. And she was devastated. This ended up playing a very important part in her story later on.

Amy struggled with a sickness called neuralgia – a disease of the nervous system that resulted in moments of sharp, stabbing pain.  Her illness made it hard for her to work, and her family continued to struggle financially, forcing them to move to try to find a better situation.  Even while her own family was having difficulty, Amy felt as though she should go out into the world and help the poor. Her heart was heavily burdened for those who suffered under the weight of extreme poverty. She said she had dreams of a voice, as loud as if he was standing besides her telling her to “Go.”

She traveled around a bit, eventually ending up in India. There, she learned that many girls were sold by their families, or just given up to the temples to serve as slaves and treated terribly. She made a decision to start rescuing these children from slavery, dedicating her life to seeking Justice.

Now here’s the interesting part: in India, it would be hard for a white, Irish person to move about without drawing attention to herself. So Amy wore a Sari, the traditional dress of women in india and dyed her skin darker with tea bags. Amy realized that when she had prayed years earlier and asked for blue eyes, she’d been praying for the wrong thing. Her brown eyes made her disguise more convincing.  If she would have had blue eyes, she would have been easy to spot and wouldn’t have been able to rescue anybody. She began to understand that her brown eyes were a gift.

Amy rescued or cared for hundreds of girls and boys who had been abused and oppressed throughout her lifetime. All of them called her Amma- which means mother. They were all her children, and she took care of them with that kind of tender care.

What I think is very interesting is that, all of us have weaknesses. All of us have obstacles that we feel get in the way of us pursuing a passion, doing something to change the world, or being successful. One thing that I’ve found incredibly encouraging is that, people who may view themselves as challenged or flawed have always, since the beginning of time, been the ones who achieve the most. We may look at famous people, movie stars, athletes, business people, and say that they have everything figured out.

The truth is, it is often through finding strength in our weakness that we build character. And character prepares us to serve and to pour out ourselves out for others . I know for certain that when a passion comes out of weakness and suffering, it is very hard to deny that something special is happening.

I am proof of this. I want to tell you something very personal and I hope it is encouraging to you. As a child, I used to struggle with anxiety. It was something that was very serious for me. I would have panic attacks where my heart would start racing and I would feel like I was sick or even dying, laying on the floor and being unable to move out of fear, really for no reason. This was something that I had to work through. I found someone to talk with about it and got help, so I could grow better, but one of my biggest fears was being embarrassed in front of a group of people. You can probably see where this is going. Who was I to do something like this – speaking in front of people around the world? The kid with the anxiety disorder. Yet, I chose to take that step, to do something with my interest, and so many good things have come out of it

So what is the difference between interest and passion?

Quite simply: it’s action. It’s action.

I believe that when we care about something, and then act on it, whether we are giving money, getting educated, give our time or tell a friend. One small action can start a whole pattern of bigger actions that result in lifelong change. No one and no action is too small to make a difference. When we take that one step, and then another, and then another, we may find ourselves on a journey of a lifetime, living for a reason, and living with a passion.  That’s the kind of life I long to live. Will you join me? Our world is full of suffering, there is no shortage of problems to be solved. The world is waiting for you.

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