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I consider myself smart (as in reading books and regurgitating information from them to ace my tests smart) but talented? No. I'm not too fussed though. I can get through life on my academic smarts well enough.
This brings up so many issues, it's hard to know where to start. Some people are told all their lives how brilliant they are, and they live on that and don't develop social skills; as a result, they might as well been average, as their work never comes to anything. It's the "Emotional Intelligence" issue versus test scores. I think test scores are over-rated, and this is from someone who did well in school, got scholarships, etc.
A lot depends, too, on who your parents were, where you were born, even what month. Read the Malcolm Gladwell books, especially The Tipping Point, where he writes about hockey players, and how all the pros, with few exceptions, were born around Jan.-Feb., which means that, in school, they're just a smidge bigger and smarter than children a few months younger, and are channeled all their careers, based on that. Hardly seems fair.
Most of the pride people take in their intelligence, careers, family background, whatever, is just a means of coping and not very well examined, I think.
I'm very good in music (playing, writing, conducting, teaching), and know more than perhaps average in several fields, since I'm a bookworm (art, poetry, philosophy). I think I went in this direction because of being teased so much in school, rejected so much because of my height (6'3" - which is tall for a woman), and don't know that it's some innate gift so much as a coping mechanism.
And yet, even so, I do think talent has to be fostered and supported, whatever its underlying reasons. It just shouldn't take itself too seriously, or lord it over others who for whatever reason, didn't have the opportunities one has enjoyed.
I'm at DEFCON Level III myself (2 levels below Expert); it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to your craft to become an Expert in the field of pissing people off, so I applaud you because according to the Training Manual most people wash out after only a few years.
I'll be joining you one day at that Expert Level... just you wait, just you wait .
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because according to the Training Manual most people wash out after only a few years.
