April 17, 2015 4:59 AM

We always envy what we don't have

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.

  • Arthur Schopenhauer

I’ve always been fascinated by the unpredictable nature of talent. How is it that one person is blessed to be able to doing things on a golf course few mere mortals can? Another person might be gifted with the ability to sing like a songbird. Yet another might have be granted the ability to represent the world around us in visual forms few could rival. It seems like magic fairy dust- some sprinkled here, some cast to the wind to be carried hither and yon, with no telling on whom it may alight or what impact it might have when it does.

When I’m honest with myself, I recognize that I’ve been blessed with an ability to be able to communicate via the written word in ways few others can. Like many artistic endeavors, talent and skill don’t always translate to financial success, but it’s not always about the money. In my case, it’s about recognizing my gift and using it in a way that honors that talent. I hope that I’m doing it justice, because I suspect I’ll write until they pry my keyboard from my cold, dead fingers.

Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible with talent is genius.

  • Henri Frederich Amiel

The thing that fascinates me about the nature of talent is how easily it’s taken for granted. I know how blessed I am to be able to express myself through my writing, but it’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done. It’s become part of my personal landscape, so much so that it doesn’t feel like a big deal. It’s what I do, it comes easily to me, and so I often manage to lose sight of the fact that writing DOESN’T come easily to so many. It’s my passion and my gift, and so it feels effortless and doesn’t require what seems like much effort. It’s what I do; it’s who I am. It’s my norm, the box I live in, and it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that what I consider the norm is anything but for so many.

Even among artists and creatives, there’s a tendency to look at what others do as better and more challenging, when in fact it’s merely different. There’s a very common phenomenon that could be called “Athletes want to be artists, artists want to be athletes.” It’s why I started playing the guitar; it’s as if there’s a creative curiosity my writing doesn’t completely satisfy, and another artistic endeavor seems like it might be the missing link. I can call myself a musician, and I’m improving, but my skill on a guitar will never rival my ability to string together complete sentences. Creatives types are never completely satisfied with what they do. There’s something about the creative mindset that leaves one feeling as if there’s always something else out there, something they need to do because it seems so difficult.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.

  • Erma Bombeck

I have a friend who is as talented a visual artist as anyone I’ve ever come across. Karl has an eye for color and composition that’s close to superhuman. We could be photographing the exact same thing, and while my shot might be good, his would be several orders of magnitude superior. He sees things in ways few humans can, and he’s able to translate what his sees in ways that are breathtaking. That’s his gift, and it’s a truly impressive thing to see. Having been in his studio and seen his Facebook page, I frequently find myself in awe of what he does. Whatever he does and however he does it, to describe his work as merely beautiful seems horribly inadequate.

I suspect Karl may look at his art the way I do my writing. Live in a place long enough and it becomes familiar, to the point where it just feels like the norm; it’s what you do. It’s easy to lose sight of just how special your talent might be when that’s just what you do every day. You adapt to the reality and it becomes comfortable and familiar…and it becomes easy to take that reality for granted.

I can’t draw to save my life, but I can write. It’s easy to envy the talent you don’t have, and it’s easy to take the talent you do have for granted. My struggle is to work to ensure that I don’t take my gift for granted. I’m grateful to have friends- musicians and artists among them- whose talent I can appreciate for what it is while reminded that mine is also pretty special.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 17, 2015 4:59 AM.

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