I took it rather hard since I'd always done well in any language arts classes from English to writing.
I dug my heels in and did improve over time. By my junior year I was in school in California and my teachers there praised me often. They said I was a model student but what mattered more to me was that my writing was now an example of how to write well. I was taken aside by my English/Writing teacher and told that I had a gift I must nourish.
So I did. I kept writing. I joined a writers group but my writing was given good advice at first then nothing but nitpicked in the end.
I eventually started blogging and am working on a new book. I eventually made something of my gift for writing and that's what I believe we are all meant to do with the gifts we have been given. We've all been given gifts for a reason, they are meant to serve a purpose.
Da Vinci was brilliant but how much poorer would we be if he hadn't taken to painting?
Shakespeare received a normal public education but he was never normal or regular and what if he hadn't struck out on his own to make a living doing what he loved?
We may not have as large a part to play as Shakespeare or Da Vinci but we are no less important in the sense that what we do may seem insignificant but it is critical that we do it. Life in that sense is like dominoes falling. We may only knock over one but we make a crucial impact in the end because were we to stay still the momentum would be lost and it would all stop without us fufilling our role.
We have a say over what we do and do not do with our lives, we have our agency but talent is a terrible thing to waste. Some may feel that they have no talent but everyone has something.
Dharma is an eastern concept that's hard to pin down to one simple definition but it can mean to perform ones duty. How you define someone's duty is subjective. But Krishna says in the Bagavad Gita that it is better to do your dharma poorly than to do another's well.
This reminds me of what talent is all about. It's about contributing to the world in a way only you can, even if it seems insignificant. But God's children are all priceless and none are ever close to insignificant.
