Who were you? Of Money and Passion

Some of the most challenging questions I get are about my past life. When my students cannot get a feel for who I am they revert back to the question- What do you do for a job?
I reply that I do this for a job right now and before I worked at a pharmaceutical company, but my education is in politics. Bewildered and exhausted they turn their eyes to the window or the floor, whichever is the farthest from my gaze.
It seems to me that who I supposedly was has nothing to do with who I really am. I have no desire to define myself by my means of allocating money. I have passions that have no marketable value. So here I am, working by day to support my passions by night, and in my opinion this is ideal.
On a train from Munich to Paris I sat and spoke with an older man named Gideon for many hours. He was originally from the Bronx but relocated to Germany years ago to work in film. His passion is photgraphy and his advice was this: Do not make your passion your job, because after a few years you will become bored with your job thus negating your passion. My girlfriends found this to be pessimistic but I understood him completely. No matter how cush the job, I will always hate it. The first day I show I up try to figure out how to work the least amount and maintain a good repution. The difference between me and other people is that I admit this from the get-go and never try to manipulate this means of a paycheck into my passion. They will always remain seperate for the sanctity of my personality and that which drives me.