I suppose my interest started when I learned how many times his efforts to produce various pieces of art were thwarted by the demands of those funding him for other works.
I mean, Michelangelo was an amazing sculptor, and yet, time and again, he was called on to paint. Mind you, he was amazing at that as well (after all, he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel), but there had to be such frustration at not being able to do what he truly felt he had a gift for.
I think every artist and aspiring artist that is NOT independently wealthy can understand.
Anyway, when I read The Agony and the Ecstasy, (yes, read - it is more than just a movie, friends), there is one quote that hit me like a 2x4. It is a line that Bertoldo says to Michelangelo:
Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive.
I knew a guy a while back. I would have to say that I was terribly jealous of him. How's that for honesty? He had this amazing drawing ability. When I say amazing, I mean AMAZING. He was drawing at a level as a teenager that I don't know if I'll ever reach in my life. Worse yet, it came so easy for him.
Isn't that always the way?
(See? Told you I was jealous... or used to be, anyway.)
It would hard to be jealous of his talent now because he has done absolutely nothing with it. NOTHING.
Yes, its a waste, but I suppose that is a person's choice. Some people just don't want to put any of the needed effort behind their talents.
Talent is one of those things that some people are just born with. Sure, I fully believe that anyone can learn just about anything with enough effort, but to have such a knack for something, to be born with that kind of talent, it is priceless.
Priceless and, yet, cheap. Priceless in value, but because it comes without effort, those who hold those talents can take them for granted, even toss them aside.
Talent costs nothing, and some people treat it like that's exactly what it is worth.
The key is dedication. You take what you have, and you focus, put the work and time in, and move forward. Talent is nice, certainly gives a healthy head start, but if you don't do anything with it, what good is it?
In the dictionary, to be dedicated means to be wholly committed. Quite simply, to be dedicated to something means to put everything you are and have into it.
Everything.
Dedication *is* expensive.
As a matter of fact, going back to the Agony and the Ecstasy, the very next line after the quote I've mentioned is this:
It will cost you your life.
This is where the rubber meets the road, though. You can take whatever level of talent you have for something, be it math, computers, teaching, speaking, art, or whatever, and you can choose to put your full effort behind it to turn it into something... or you can choose not to.
Don't worry if you choose to not cultivate your talent. You certainly won't be alone.
Like Blaise Pascal once said:
Nothing is as approved as mediocrity, the majority has established it and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way.
Type at you later.
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