Talents and Values
by Kelly Reynolds
“I think Michael is talking about [an] artist’s own pursuit that is true to his talent and passion.”
I want to write about a quote that came up in the conversation about Lanza. The quote is from Hong, but I am not picking specifically on her. This idea was in many posts; she just expressed it explicitly. I don’t know anything about Mario Lanza, but I have thought a lot about talents and values. That is what I want to address.
I agree with Hong (and probably everyone on SOLO) that to pursue less than one’s total passion is wrong. The way to be happy is to doggedly pursue the values that one has chosen, to let nothing get in the way of those highest purposes, to work toward the achievement that one has identified as his life’s goal. But, I do not agree that a person has any moral responsibility to utilize his talents.
Talents are inborn, not chosen. They are the equivalent of beauty. Just as no one has any obligation to be a model because he is incredibly handsome, no one has an obligation to be an opera singer because he has an incredibly beautiful voice. No amount of musical talent, athletic ability, beauty, or eye for fashion requires anything of the possessor of the talent. To suggest that a person must “be true to his talent” is to negate volition.
I do think that most people really enjoy the things they are naturally good at, and so most people end up with talents and values that are aligned. And there is no doubt that talents are a great help to achieving values, and that some values (singing professionally, for instance) require talent. But talents imply no moral responsibilities.
This issue is very personal for me because it was a struggle that I faced with my parents as a child and young adult (before I learned to do as I please). I am very, very academically talented in the humanities. I never ever had an assignment in school or in college that was particularly hard; everything just came easily. I found that I could read and comprehend literature, history, philosophy, etc., very quickly, effortlessly, and thoroughly. I can write a critical essay on a literary work that would knock your socks off, and it comes to me without trying. I soak up words and language as I read, and my subconscious seems to just organize them for me as I write (especially about literature). I found that I had an ear for poetry and for elegant literary prose. It seemed obvious to everyone that I should be an academic, a literature professor, a publisher of articles and books of criticism of my favorite authors. There was only one little problem. I don’t really like that stuff that much.
“What a waste!” said my parents when I decided to teach elementary-aged students. They said it again when I apprenticed as a midwife. They said it yet again when I got involved with landscaping and farming. They couldn’t understand how I could betray my “God-given” talents. They quoted, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” The one thing they didn’t take into account when trying to choose a career for me was the one thing that mattered: what I like to do with my time. It turns out that academic pursuits don’t give me the kind of fulfillment necessary for a career.
I’d rather dig in the dirt. And while I am good with plants, taking care of them doesn’t come as effortlessly to me as writing an essay about “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” The extra work to earn my green thumb is worth it to me because I love it.
My unsolicited advice? Take talent as an extra, an added bonus that can help you to fulfill your dreams. Be glad that you can run fast, that you are a knockout, that you can draw with ease, but be sure to choose goals because they make you happy.
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