The Undiscovered Country

Talent vs. Desire

My mom and I discussed art the other day.

At one point she said Margaret had more artistic ability than I did.

That both threw me and insulted me a bit. Margaret has always been 'crafty' such as knitting, but as far as art went such as painting, pencil, pen & ink, chalk, etc., that was my forte.

I asked, "Then how come she never took art classes like I did?"

"Because she was good at it, whereas you had to work for it."

I thought about it a few days, and I concluded she was probably right. I took art classes every year in high school in order to learn more about art and hone my abilities. Margaret having natural ability didn't think she needed it.

I saw a show on the Science channel the other day about Stephen Hawking. When he attended Oxford, he at first skated through, so certain in his natural ability of mathematics he didn't apply himself. All that changed when he was diagnosed with ALS during his third year. Suddenly he realized his time here might be short, and he had nothing to show for it.

Now he is considered one of the greatest minds of our time. You can read about it on his website: http://www.hawking.org.uk/disable/dindex.html It's quite inspiring.

That's not to say I'll be some great artist, but that desire and dedication can often take us further than natural ability. Sometimes it's our lack of talent that can spur us to do wonderful things.