Jack of All Trades

People always say practice makes perfect, which by extension means the same for focus. If you focus all your energy and concentration upon one area, your skill in that one area will be immense. I often wonder what it would be like to only have area that was the focus of all my life...

If my focus were running, I could run for miles and miles, perhaps eventually enough to circumambulate (which is not a word, but ought to be) the world.

If it were making friends, I could have lots of good friends spread throughout the world from America to Europe to Antartica (or maybe that is stretching it a little too far).

If it were art, I could create beautiful illuminated manuscripts, paintings and fine drawings, with my art known the world over, perhaps even resulting in a masterpiece that would bring those looking at it into the picture.

If it were languages I could know a good portion of the languages of the world and have several constructed languages of my own, and be able to speak them all so perfectly well that no one would ever know whether I was complimenting them or insulting them, or complimenting them in a way that happened to be an insult.

If it were sailing, I could be winning races and circumnavigating the globe, proving the Age of Sail continues strong and well, at least in the mind of one.

If it were being a pirate captain, I could have several fine prizes and a wealth of legends gathering about me, and show to the world that piracy is not a thing of the past, except whereas it concerns the internet or machine guns and rubber rafts.

If it were writing, I could be a renowned published author, subverting my readers just as the other best-selling authors do, except to the truth.

If it were living out my faith, I could be in heaven by now, rather than laboring through this valley of sorrows.

Wow. I impress myself. To think that I could have done any of those! (Never mind that the odds of any one of them happening are about as great as that of a polar bear and a penguin waltzing to a minuett played by a Chinese dragon.)

Yet I have chosen another course, the way of diverse interests and little rewards and a mind full of thoughts as scattered as feathers in the wind; though whether I have chosen rightly none can say. It is a good life. Perhaps a better one. Instead of going through life trying to be the best at something I can realize that there will always be many who are better than I, and yet not in all ways. Yes, I like being Jack of All Trades.