Fun/eclectic from RachaelT - (Harping with Danny Gregory)

I'm not whining, just noting, that yesterday I tried to insert an extra post about the nincompoop Lovejoy and my *new brain* couldn't quite get the two Wednesday posts in the right order. Then, when I read through what I had written, it had a few errors. Please bear with me while we wait to see how many synapses I can regrow. Just now, when I could remember the word synapse -- that was a big deal. I've been having so much trouble remembering words. Hopefully that one sticks.

 The cancel in the wrong corner adds so much to this one. I love it - and will be doing my own version. And a big thank you to my letter carrier for not scribbling on the stamp. 

The add-on topic for the day is something that I harp on. I did more harping when I was teaching because  the message is easier to dispense in person. It comes across as snarky when I write it out. Happily, Danny Gregory submitted his version which is nicely worded.

This is directed to the people who are longing to improve their calligraphy skills. Please remember, I am a big fan of just hanging out wherever you are on the learning curve. There is no reason to agonize over where you want to be. Be happy where you are. But, there are no short cuts if you have the time to pursue excellence. If you want to get better, you have to put in the hours.

Currently, I am so rusty that most of what I write makes my stomach churn. (and I wrote this before the brain injury) I can't imagine there is some magical place where you are masterful without effort.

Here is Danny's post. I might extend this conversation in some additional posts.

How do you get good at something? 
You work really hard for ages until you can do it well enough for other people to notice. At which point they think it's miraculous, because they hadn't noticed you doing all that work in obscurity.  
And they label it 'talent' because they couldn't imagine doing all that work themselves — and so they assume you didn't either. 
Nope. You were born with a silver pen in your mouth.   

Being called 'talented' is actually a putdown. 
It's saying you didn't earn this, you were bequeathed it. 
You won the genetic lottery. You scored. 
Birthrights are bullshit, the flip side of racism, sexism, classism, just pigeonholing to limit people.  

More destructively, talent is also an excuse for not bothering. 
Freeing you to not put in the work because you're starting with this unfair disadvantage that no amount of practice will overcome.  
The fact is that, if talent does exist, in your case, it's meaningless.
If you have it, then great. 
You have the motivation to practice and stumble and sweat and fail and advance and perform miracles because you have been told you will succeed and all that pain will be worth it. 
And if you don't, the same basically applies but at the end you'll have the added reward of confounding expectations.

The only talent you need is the ability to work.  So get to it.   

*****

Add on - 

Something that came to me (in my post brain injury state) is the word *gifted.* I do believe that people may be gifted with something that gets the label of *talent.* The gift will call to a person, the way the alphabet called to me as soon as I could hold a pencil. Obviously, there are kids who are drawn to music. My other son (not the postal worker) was drawn to flying through the air -- and has managed to create a life that involves a lot of that. 

IMHO -- discovering and following that *gift* that came in your DNA can give you a leg up if you identify it and start putting in the hours.

And obviously, there are the savants -- but that is whole different category. They often excel at one thing - and everything else is of little interest to them, so they end up way out on the very edge of the bell curve.