Each of us has different talents. Some people can look at a motor and see how it operates. Others look at a motor and are flummoxed. Lacking a particular talent does not make a person stupid.
When I was a pre-teen, boys and girls were flocking to music studios to take accordion lessons hoping to become the next Dick Contino, an 18-year-old from California who gained worldwide fame playing the instrument during the late 1940s. Every Saturday morning for 2 1/2 years, my parents drove 25 miles to Beloit, Wisconsin, so I could spend half-an-hour with Dallas learning to play the squeeze box. When my teacher enlisted in the U.S. Navy, I didn’t believe anyone could take his place and took no more instruction.
I consider myself fortunate to have attended a small high school where it was possible to take part in extra-curricular activities without passing a talent requirement. We learn many things by joining in a pastime even if we aren’t very good at it.
Although I would never be considered a singer, I belonged to the girls’ chorus, the mixed chorus and a girls’ ensemble. At that time, there were no organized girls’ sports.
Boys who were interested in athletics could participate with a team although the coach might designate some as ‘bench-warmers’ who earned little game playing time.
When I was a junior and a senior, it was the tradition that our class put on a play each year. For our final comedy, the director found one that included all 24 members of our class. After the speaking parts were assigned, the remaining boys and girls were dancers at a teen hang-out.
Since I could wield a pencil, I’ve liked to draw pictures. My favorite subject was horses but it frustrated me that I could rarely get them quite right. When I was a teenager, I saw an ad in a magazine soliciting budding artists to submit a test drawing of a girl’s head to an art school. I did and received a letter stating I was a winner. A representative from the company called on my family to talk about my attending the institution after high school graduation. The agent only mouthed a canned spiel and didn’t answer my parents’ questions so he was asked to leave our home. I’ll never know if I missed out on a career in art.
I never considered writing as a profession but when I was in my thirties and looking for a parttime job, I had the opportunity to become a freelance reporter. I had no education or experience in the field but I’d learned to give new things a try. After selling articles to area newspapers and national magazines, I felt I had found my calling.
What do you consider your talents?