Is it better to care deeply about something or to remain emotionally detached?

I believe that caring deeply about something is the key to doing it well. If you’re truly passionate about it, then you will do great things with it, no matter what. Great scientists devoted all their time to making new discoveries and making things. They sacrificed things and sometimes even put their health in jeopardy. Why wouldn’t emotional attachment to what you’re doing or working on be the best way to make even more worthwhile?

You might argue that being emotionally involved in your work clouds your judgment, but I don’t think it does. It might cloud your judgment as to other things-you might forget to eat or something- but not your judgment as to what your focus is upon. It becomes your baby. You coddle it. Nights become sleepless because you’re tending to every thing that might need to be done. While everything else in your life might become hazy, your project is a clear spot.

Emotional detachment from your work means it’s not a top priority. You might say that it isn’t a top priority, that there are many things more important. Air, for example. There is no shortage of air, don’t worry about that. Water and food, on the other hand, are something to worry about a tad. I’m quite sure that only a complete imbecile would totally forgo food and water, anyways. Everyone knows you need it. Besides, you’d pass out from lack of either, so it’d be important to anyone who actually wishes to work at what they do.

Also, I don’t think that you really care about the work if there isn’t any emotion in it. You can’t be totally emotionally detached from it and make any progress. If it doesn’t mean anything to you, then that’s just it. You don’t care about it. It. Can’t. Be. Important. If. You. Have. No. Emotion. Towards. It. I can’t make this point strong enough.

As I said, you have to have at least a little emotional attachment to it, otherwise it’s just some hoo hah that you’re forced to do. The great discoveries of this world were made by people who put their heart and soul into what they were doing. (I am aware that there are exceptions…) I shall leave you with this:

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Arronax vs. Nemo

Who remembers reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Wasn’t a great book? If you haven’t read it, or you need a recap, here we go: Professor Aronnax, his manservant Conseil, and a Canadian harpooner named Ned Land are aboard a ship called the Abraham Lincoln, chasing a “giant norwhale” that has been terrorizing ships across the globe. As they attack this monster, it attacks back, causing our three friends to be thrown overboard. Captain Nemo of the Nautilus takes them in, feeds them and shows them wonders under the sea that no other man has seen before. It’s a wonderful story, with wonderful characters, two of which I will be comparing.

Professor Aronnax specializes in natural history, marine animals especially. He had written a book titled The Mysteries of the Great Ocean Depths, which established him as an expert, which is why he was called upon for his opinions on what was attacking ships.

He was curious, and believed that man didn’t know what lay past ten miles below the surface. He was sure that there were creatures they’d never seen, and might not ever see. He was excited to come along on the Abraham Lincoln looking for this creature.

Captain Nemo is a man filled with hatred. You can tell from the way he acts. Something horrible happened to him, and he seeks revenge. Not the eye for an eye sort, though. He has made himself a fortress, surrounded only by few that he had chosen. He can get everything he needs and more from the sea, and he’s proud of the fact. He has spent years bettering his mind and learning new languages and discovering things, and it all falls into a grand master plan to get back at the surface world for wronging him so horrendously.

Both characters have an immense love for the sea, and all that can be learned, discovered, and made from it. They find it fascinating. Each has great knowledge of marine life, and each yearns to know all the secrets that the sea keeps. Each would spend days reading from Captain Nemo’s library if they could. If they had years to, they would collect shells and organisms to study and admire. Both want to immerse themselves in knowledge, and both have great love for the seaweed forests. Both are also stubborn and want their way, and I doubt I either could go a day without a bombardment of questions, although Captain Nemo seems to have answered many for himself before having met Professor Aronnax.

Their differences are mainly in personality traits. While they do have similar interests and such, Nemo seems to be a bit more aggressive. He’s very secretive with things, and spends days at a time locked up in his room. He has cold eyes and has seen death, and is a bit of a prick. Professor Aronnax, on the other hand, spends all the days Nemo doesn’t have him locked up out looking around, and he expects answers to his questions. He’s baffled by Nemo’s secretiveness. He’s inquisitive and wants to know all the sea’s secrets, but he wants to go back to land, while Nemo has sworn never to step foot upon the surface world again. Aronnax gets sick of eating fish daily, and craves land-meat. Aronnax is also a much, much nicer person than Nemo. They are practically polar opposites personality-wise, and don’t actually like each other that much. Nemo refuses to let them leave because NO ONE can know of his ship, and he thinks of Arronax as a burden. Arronax can’t stand imprisonment.

While they both are very curious and love the sea very much, Nemo thinks of it as his home, while Aronnax craves to be back on land like smokers crave nicotine. I think the characters are amazing and fit together so well and are like compliments to each other, even if they find each other disagreeable.