Awhile back Dillon sent me a youtube link. It was a video of a guy demonstrating a guitar effects pedal. He’s turning knobs and playing notes, demonstrating how the pedal makes the guitar sound. Then at the end he plays for a good solid minute, and I was amazed at what a great guitarist he is.
What struck me the most, though, was how he doesn’t look like a musician at all. You could pass this guy on the street and never suspect he is a fantastic guitar player. He looks more like he’d be a videogamer or someone who works at Best Buy. Not that there’s anything wrong or uncool with being a videogamer or someone who works at Best Buy. But, well, look at him:
It makes me think: What amazing talents do the people I encounter everyday have that I have no clue about? That crazy cashier at the grocery store—maybe he plays banjo. The surfer dude bank teller—maybe he’s a rad artist. The woman who rides her bike past our apts everyday wearing glitzy sunglasses—maybe she’s a national Scrabble champion.
Do you ever wonder if you have undiscovered talents? Things you’d be brilliant at that you just have never had the occasion to do?
Like, what if I have the ability to be an amazing, um….ice skater? Yeah, I don’t think so, either. It seems like if you have the ability to do something brilliantly you’d also be drawn towards doing it, right?
But sometimes I think about the wasted potential out there. Think about people who live in grinding poverty in third world countries. How much potential for greatness is just wasted because they can only survive, and not thrive?
There’s a scripture that says:
For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.
There’s so much we don’t know about ourselves and everyone around us.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
This is what keeps me up at night. For so long I have looked at people and wondered. I wonder if they know who they really are. I wish I could tell them in a way that would matter. And then those who have no opportunity other than to survive; would they write the next great opera, a concerto, or paint in a way never seen before? Cure cancer,or just frankly be hilarious? What are the poems of person who cannot communicate?
My bleeding heart has dripped these questions for a long time. Thanks for thinking them too.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Beautiful post Susan. Glad you share this particular ability with all of us!
January 13th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
What shazbraz said.
I often wish I had more of a clue.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:12 am
That scripture was used brilliantly in Phillip K. Dick’s “A Scanner Darkly.” Of course, that novel was about paranoia and drug abuse, so…uh…it’s not exactly on-topic.
This post highlights why I like certain types of documentaries and human-interest stories. Take “King of Kong,” for example. Who would have known, by looking at him, that Steve Wiebe was the greatest King Kong player in the world? (Sure, many wouldn’t care, but it’s interesting.) Or “New York Doll.” I’m sure that many people who passed Arthur Kane on the street or shared a church pew with him had no idea that he was in one of the most influential glam-rock bands of all time.
Another example: when I was in high school, there was a time when I would have counted the Connells as one of my top 5 or 10 favorite bands. I recently discovered that Mike Connell is now a worker’s compensation attorney in North Carolina. Which is fine (goodness knows that I’m not one to denigrate lawyers), but just odd, in a way. Now he’s someone that I would call up to hire and take care of a worker’s comp matter for my company. It just seems so pedestrian for someone who was once (sort of) a rock star.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:50 am
What a great post.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Um…by “King Kong,” I meant Donkey Kong, of course.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Maybe that’s why I like documentaries and reality shows more than fictional movies and tv shows these days, Greg. Have you seen Man on Wire? I haven’t yet, gotta pick it up.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Not yet. I’ve heard it’s excellent, though. I need to remember to add it to my Netflix queue. There’s another one near the top called “American Teen” that looks really good from the preview.
January 17th, 2009 at 1:52 am
he sucks