Sweatshop Incorporated aka How much is too much?

It's good to be passionate. As a matter of fact, it's downright brilliant to be passionate about something. In this world we inhabit, that is increasingly being consumed by the nasty monster that is apathy, it's refreshing to find something one can truly get excited about, enough to lose sleep and energy over. And every new thing one encounters or learns during the process seems like the most awesome and amazing nugget of experience or information possible and every little associated object, person or factor seems equally incredible.

And then, there are the rough days, when the going gets tough. But seeking solace in Hunter S Thompson's adage that When the going gets tough, the tough turn professional one soldiers on, through sleep deprivation, through immense hard work - of a mental and physical kind - and the tyranny of others. Sounds familiar enough, doesn't it? But unscathed and unmoved, one wakes up with a renewed vigour and a desire to immerse oneself in said passion once more.

But wait, with every passing day, one finds a few niggling things that bother one, but ignores them because the sum total is far bigger than the tiny elements that form it and so the toil continues on and on, like the Duracell bunny. And it's quite possible that over a period of time, one may find oneself blinded and unable to see everything that's wrong and unjust about the system. With one's rose-tinted shades securely in place, it's impossible to objectively look at just how much of a hole one may have dug oneself into.

And of course, there's the fact that one discovers one is more tired than before, has less time to oneself than before and worst, has to spend more time convincing oneself that it's worth it. That is where the "How much is too much?" theory kicks in and a passion turns into a sweatshop, that imprisons one indefinitely with minimal gains and sadly keeps one compelled to keep coming back for more and more, to be kicked metaphorically in the head time and again.

The moral of the story, kids, is don't do drugs. They'll steal your soul and make you vote for Hubert Humphrey!!!