I love sports, as all Bostonians seem to. I love books and

In the words of William Landay, “I love sports, as all Bostonians seem to. I love books and movies, as all writers seem to.” Though spoken in simple form, this utterance carries the weight of belonging, identity, and the currents of culture that shape the soul. It is not merely a confession of personal delight—it is the recognition that love often springs not from the self alone, but from the community and calling into which one is woven. In this way, the quote teaches us that our passions are both our own and yet shared, born of the soil and tribe that nurture us.

To speak of Boston and its love of sports is to invoke a people bound together by triumph and heartbreak, by Red Sox curses and Celtics banners, by cold autumn nights at Fenway and the thunder of cheers echoing across the Charles. In such places, sport is not pastime—it is ritual, it is faith, it is the pulse of the city. Landay’s words remind us that one cannot grow up in such a place without being swept into that current. Just as the ancients gathered in amphitheaters to share in the glory of their champions, so too do Bostonians find their hearts kindled together, their sorrows and joys tied to the fate of their teams. To be of that people is to be claimed by this passion.

Yet Landay does not remain only with sports. He turns also to books and movies, the nourishment of the mind and the weaving of stories. He speaks as a writer, and in this he recognizes another truth—that the vocation of the scribe, the poet, the storyteller, carries with it a kinship of loves. Writers are drawn to words as bees are drawn to flowers, and they find themselves compelled not only to create, but to consume. They watch, they read, they absorb, because to them every tale is a mirror, every character a whisper, every story a lantern held aloft in the dark. Landay sees this not as his solitary quirk, but as a mark of belonging to the eternal brotherhood and sisterhood of those who wield the pen.

Consider, as an example, the life of Ernest Hemingway. A man of war and wilderness, yet equally a man of words, Hemingway was both shaped by his environment and a shaper of it. He hunted and fished with the intensity of sport, lived amidst the passions of his time, yet also drank deeply from the well of books and devoted himself to the art of storytelling. His love of life’s contests gave energy to his prose, while his love of literature gave permanence to his name. Just as Landay binds Boston and sport, and writing with story, Hemingway wove together the fire of living with the craft of expression.

The wisdom here is that we are all, in some measure, products of our place and our purpose. The city that raises us, the calling that claims us—these plant within us seeds of desire, and from them grow the loves that shape our days. To deny this is to deny part of ourselves; to embrace it is to walk with fuller strength. For the Bostonian, love of sport is not mere chance—it is heritage. For the writer, love of books is not indulgence—it is sustenance.

But there is a deeper teaching as well: passions can bind us to others. The stadium is filled with strangers who feel like kin when the team triumphs. The library is filled with unknown voices who whisper to us across time. When we embrace the loves of our people and our craft, we discover that we are not alone. We stand in a great chorus, our voices joining those who came before and those who will come after.

Therefore, the lesson is this: know the loves of your people, and know the loves of your craft. Do not resist them as if they were chains, but embrace them as sources of strength. Ask yourself: what do those around me hold dear, and how does that shape me? What do those in my vocation cherish, and how can I deepen that love within myself? In this way, you will find both identity and belonging.

Let your actions follow this wisdom: if you are of a city, immerse yourself in its spirit; if you are of a craft, drink deeply from its well. Join your community in its joys, and join your fellow seekers in their passions. For as Landay’s words remind us, love is not only personal—it is also communal, and to recognize this is to live more fully, as part of something greater than yourself.