Name a professional athlete, one at the very top of his or her game. We all know the names: Mays, DiMaggio, Montana, Payton, Gretzky, Howe, Pele, Jordan, Russell, Nicklaus, Woods, Federer, Graf, Williams, Ali, Robinson. How about a seminal name in music, one whose name will forever be remembered? Lennon, Mozart, Beethoven, Elvis, Jackson, Armstrong, Dylan, Johnson, Hendrix, Bach, Marley. Titans of industry and invention: Edison, Ford, Jobs, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Astor, Rockefeller. Statesmen and world leaders: Churchill, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Thatcher, Richelieu. Scientists: Newton, Einstein, Tesla, Nobel, Galileo, Darwin, Aristotle, Curie, Hawking. Tyrants and dictators: Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Mussolini, Pol Pot. Conquerors: Alexander, Khan, Attila, Caesar, Charlemagne.
This is a game that can be played forever, in any field or genre. We know all these names because they achieved greatness and, each in his or her own way, changed the world. We also know another thing – every one of them had parents.
A child comes into the world utterly helpless and utterly at the mercy of his or her parents or caregivers. That child is born with a unique set of genes into a unique set of circumstances. What happens next is also unique. No two children grow and develop along exactly the same path, and no two people live identical lives.
There’s nothing groundbreaking about this observation, and no great insight to be gleaned from it ipso facto. But, consider these two quotes:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. – Stephen Jay Gould
how do you dare tell me that I’m my Father’s son
when that was just an accident of Birth.
I’d rather look around me — compose a better song
‘cos that’s the honest measure of my worth. — Ian Anderson
It is undeniable that the great names listed in the first paragraph had some special spark. It’s highly likely that spark included some element of genetics. It’s also highly likely that spark included some element of circumstance and some element of motivation. What if Michael Jordan never picked up a basketball? What if Mozart’s father wasn’t a composer and music teacher? What if Gandhi never studied law? Again, no groundbreaking insight here. It is the converse that interests me at the moment – how much potential greatness never happened merely because circumstance led people down different paths? There is the obvious – the sweatshop worker who could have been another Einstein – but the different path needn’t be one of privation or poverty. Is it possible that we haven’t seen the greatest golfer in the world because he never picked up a golf club?
Each of us is the product of the genetic lottery combined with the parental lottery and a lifetime’s worth of experiences. Each of us has talents and develops skills over the decades of our life. Each of us has affinities and interests. But, is it possible that circumstances have not placed us on a path ideally matched to our innate talents or proclivities? Is it possible that, within that scramble of DNA, there are the seeds of a superb cook, or a scratch golfer, or a talented photographer?
Have you ever looked at someone who makes something look easy, something that looked interesting, but declared “I can never do that” without ever having tried? If so, why? Why not try? Even if you’re on the downhill side of the half-century mark, even if you’ve reached Social Security eligibility, even if you’re in your eighth decade, it’s not inconceivable that there’s a talent you never knew you had lurking within you. Who knows, you might even find a true calling, no matter what life stage you’re in.
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