Talent.
They say it is everything. Some people have it. Some people don’t.
I watch people who don’t have talent all the time. I watch people who have some talent all the time.
I watch kids who sparkle. I watch kids who just ‘have it’.
I watch kids who learn fast and kids who learn slow.
I watch kids who kick the beam and I watch kids who fall off it 50 times and still keep going.
I watch the ones who are all mouth and I watch ones who were written off but never gave up.
There is more to talent than just having ‘it’.
There is more to talent than sparkle and fizz and stretchy limbs or the best voice or the cleverest brain.
***
She’s nine years old.
She has some talent. She’s pretty good, in a ‘will never be in the olympics’ kind of way.
I love to watch her.
I love her strength, her 6 pack, her neat limbs and her dainty dancing. I love that she never smiles because her brain is focused on being the best that she can be.
4 days a week she finishes school at 3.30pm and by 4.30pm she is at gym, ready for 4 hours of press ups, leg lifts, running, stretching and working moves over and over again.
She gets home and uses our living room as a gym for another hour. Every trip to the park is a chance to practise.
She never moans.
She never grumbles.
She never asks not to go tonight.
It’s not the talent that impresses me. It’s the dedication, the determination.
The relentless, mature, single-minded drive.
Its not the talent that inspires me. It’s not what I love most.
She embodies one phrase for me, a phrase I think should be drilled into the brain of every kid.
“Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Written for The Gallery – Talent.