Note- to be so passionate about something that you spend hours speaking about it, that you spend your waking hours wishing you were doing something about it, and eventually the need becomes so great that you do.


From NPR:

Juan Carlos Echeverry, who studied in the U.S. and Europe, says that's all people knew of Colombia — even years after Escobar was killed by police.

"Ten to 15 years ago, I studied in NYU in New York City, and I studied in Germany, I studied in Spain, and every beer with friends from those countries, we spent hours speaking about Pablo Escobar and narco-trafficking," he recalls.

Echeverry says it was tiresome.

Now, he's Colombia's finance minister. At the Summit of the Americas in the coastal city of Cartagena, he'll give his side of the story to heads of state — including President Obama — and CEOs from some of the biggest companies around. He says many people are already getting the message.

People are talking about this, infrastructure and oil and tourism. And people want to come to Colombia, and this humongous, tectonic change of stereotype, Colombia as a promised land.

"People are talking about this, infrastructure and oil and tourism," he says. "And people want to come to Colombia, and this humongous, tectonic change of stereotype, Colombia as a promised land."