55 bar falls 29.40 2mph S dewpoint 38 Spring
Waxing Gibbous Moon of Growing
“A man may be so much of everything that his is nothing of anything.” – Samuel Johnson
A study of valedictorians I read a while back said that, as a group, they rarely distinguish themselves. Many get their Ph.D’s, but do not gain prizes or renown. Why is this, the article asked? It answered that in order to become a valedictorian you have to spread yourself over several areas. They just don’t have the intensity of focus on one subject, one area that leads to great breakthroughs. Johnson’s quote reminds me of that article and of my life.
As a high school valedictorian, I did just what the article suggested. I worked hard at everything and had no true favorite subject. I liked Latin and chemistry and English and algebra. I didn’t much like physics or analytical geometry, but I worked at them anyhow. Since then, my life has followed the same pattern. In college I had two majors, anthropology and philosophy, but I had enough credits for a minor in geography, too. All the while the political movements of the day occupied a great deal of time, as did bridge. The closest I’ve come to focus was going to seminary and that lead me into more political and organizational work. The preaching and pastoral care aspects of ministry, the traditional focus for protestants didn’t interest me as much.
After I moved away from the ministry, I started to write. Writing let me do a lot of research in various areas that interested me, still does, but again, no focused intensity. When I became a Unitarian-Universalist, I guess you could say I became a generalist in the field of faith traditions. Even my current interest in art is at an encyclopedic museum, although I have carved out a niche for myself in Asian art. Asian art, however, is a vast field in itself. Chinese art alone is a lifetime’s study and Japanese art is not far behind. India, too.
When I’m down, I see myself as nothing of anything. When I feel good, I’m a polymath. In neither case am I Nobel prize material. Not even ignoble prize material.
It has taken many years to accept this almost random curiousity as just who I am. It feels genetic, or, if not, then it became grafted into my sense of self so early that I can’t find the origin.
