Talent

Some people just seem to have talent to burn.  I remember being on my go cart and the guy on his turned to me and said “I have just worked out why flat roads are better.  He said on some roads there is space between the surfaces that lets the water drain away.  On flat roads though (the ones that are really watery when driving) there are no gaps which means more places to grip.
Fair dinkum I was only thinking about getting to where I was going.  He was considering road surfaces.  He went on to become a pilot.  I went on to become, well me and someone who marvels at a conversation had when I was about 12 years old.
He was pretty well good at everything he did.  He was my nemesis.  He stopped me from being the best hand ball player in primary school.   The results went the way expected.  I met him in the final.  The teacher came.  I lost.  He was better than me.
We had a big test to fill out at home.  I did mine real quick.  The next day I helped him go through his.  We came across something I had omitted to fill in.  His comment was it meant he beat me finishing.  Doh.
Yet I think what matters most is not having talent but doing something with it.  I remember hearing someone say they were sick of hearing of people with talent.  It was the ones that did something with it that mattered.
I can relate to that.  It matters not to me what I can do.  What matters to me is what I do.
I often relate the stroke I had to a guitar.  It has six strings.  Maybe the stroke means I have four that can be used.  My goal is to play those four strings as best as possible.  The past matters less than now. (I do remember reading a fictitious story about a person who could not afford new strings and kept on breaking them.  In the end he got really good at playing the one string he had left.)
I could have many things I am a natural at.  I could have one thing.  To me the point is making the most of what I have.  I have trouble relating to having something left in reserve after the race is finished.  I ask myself, “what’s the point?”  Maybe I am saving for a rainy day.  The race is the rainy day.  The important thing to me is giving it my all.