55\u00a0 bar falls 29.40 2mph S\u00a0 dewpoint 38 Spring<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Waxing Gibbous Moon of Growing<\/p>\n
“A man may be so much of everything that his is nothing of anything.” – Samuel Johnson<\/a> <\/p>\n A study of valedictorians I read a while back said that, as a group, they rarely distinguish themselves.\u00a0 Many get their Ph.D’s, but do not gain prizes or renown.\u00a0 Why is this, the article asked?\u00a0 It answered that in order to become a valedictorian you have to spread yourself over several areas.\u00a0 They just don’t have the intensity of focus on one subject, one area that leads to great breakthroughs.\u00a0 Johnson’s quote reminds me of that article and of my life.<\/p>\n As a high school valedictorian, I did just what the article suggested.\u00a0 I worked hard at everything and had no true favorite subject.\u00a0 I liked Latin and chemistry and English and algebra.\u00a0 I didn’t much like physics or analytical geometry, but I worked at them anyhow.\u00a0 Since then, my life has followed the same pattern.\u00a0 In college I had two majors, anthropology and philosophy, but I had enough credits for a minor in geography, too.\u00a0 All the while the political movements of the day occupied a great deal of time, as did bridge.\u00a0 The closest I’ve come to focus was going to seminary and that lead me into more political and organizational work.\u00a0 The preaching and pastoral care aspects of ministry, the traditional focus for protestants didn’t interest me as much.\u00a0<\/p>\n After I moved away from the ministry, I started to write.\u00a0 Writing let me do a lot of research in various areas that interested me, still does, but again, no focused intensity.\u00a0 When I became a Unitarian-Universalist, I guess you could say I became a generalist in the field of faith traditions.\u00a0 Even my current interest in art is at an encyclopedic museum, although I have carved out a niche for myself in Asian art.\u00a0 Asian art, however, is a vast field in itself.\u00a0 Chinese art alone is a lifetime’s study and Japanese art is not far behind.\u00a0 India, too.<\/p>\n When I’m down, I see myself as nothing of anything.\u00a0 When I feel good, I’m a polymath.\u00a0 In neither case am I Nobel prize material.\u00a0 Not even ignoble prize material.\u00a0<\/p>\n It has taken many years to accept this almost random curiousity as just who I am.\u00a0 It feels genetic, or, if not, then it became grafted into my sense of self so early that I can’t find the origin.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 55\u00a0 bar falls 29.40 2mph S\u00a0 dewpoint 38 Spring \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Waxing 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.\u00a0 Many get their Ph.D’s, but do … Continue reading Neither Noble nor Ignoble<\/span>