If you were creating a continuum and placed "complacent" on one end, then my guess is you might put "passion" in the middle and "relentlessly passionate" at the other end.  Be Relentlessly Passionate, is Shine Principle #8, according to the House of Shine Manifesto, coming your way soon.

Something I love about working on a college campus is that it's hard to be complacent and that a lot of faculty, staff, and students live at the other end of the continuum.  

Faculty who shine are passionate about their area of expertise, whether Biology, Music, Art History, Engineering, English, Accounting, or any of the other thousand disciplines from which a student can choose.  Sitting in class with a passionate faculty member is fun, because they can bring material to life in a way that an average faculty member can't.

But, when a faculty member is relentlessly passionate they do more than bring material to life - they inspire students to take action.  These faculty members radiate such passion, such conviction, and such tenacity, that they literally cannot stop educating until they have moved someone else to also be relentless.   

Thank goodness, I say, because it seems most advancement happens on the heels of people who are relentless about their passions.

Here's what I know.  Someone inside the Environmental Studies building at the University of North Texas is relentlessly passionate.  I know it, because look what I stumbled upon while walking across campus a couple of days ago.

Art with a message.

St. Patrick's week seemed like a good time to celebrate those people who are relentlessly passionate about being green and taking care of our planet.  Of course you don't have to be relentlessly passionate to do your part.  You don't even have to be passionate.  You just can't be complacent.

Visit us in Today's Forum to tell us what little thing you do to be green.  Or, tell us... if you were to create a piece of art with a social message, what would it look like and what message would it deliver?

One more thing.  If you know or have ever had a faculty member who is relentlessly passionate, consider nominating him/her for the Yellow Envelope Project.  The advancement of our country depends on them, in part.

Shining off until tomorrow.