Gifts!

I have always believed that we all come here to this world and existence for a reason. Crazy talk, I know, but none the less it is what I believe. What really cemented this for me was the birth of my son. It was clear that he had been here before and was an old soul with a distinct persona. He came with a GIFT, he was an artist!

I felt that it was my obligation to help him develop and become who he was supposed to be. Destiny, as it were! So, at the age of two I set him up with an easel and paints and gave him free reign. And he just exploded. When we got a computer he exploded even further into the digital and pixel world. And this was before we figured out that he was opthalmologically challenged. He couldn’t really see and he was still a brilliant artist. It is just like my Cousin Ivan who was blind and a brilliant artist. But my son was and is a brilliant artist and that was who and what he was going to be. I could not and wouldn't stand in his way.

So, say it is true, as I posit, that we come here with gifts, what are we to do about that? How do we discover what our gift is and then what do we do? And then what if we squander our time here and our gift?

I am still trying to figure out my gift. When I was an undergraduate I wanted to be a Philosopher Queen. I had a real talent for rhetoric and the ability to take a crowd and raise a minor rebellion. Unfortunately there are not many job listings for that particular skill. I have, however, been able to align my need to make a living with decent and public jobs which, though not exactly, align my philosophy with my economic needs.

This brings me to another person who has a gift and I am sure came here to share it with us mere mortals: Whitney Huston. As many of you know I first saw her with her mother, Cissy, at a small club on the Upper-Westside of Manhattan when Whitney was just a teenager. Like her mother, she was gifted. However, I thought she was exceptional and couldn’t get over how unbelievably exceptional she was.

Here is a piece she did that makes the point:

So what happened? She is brilliant, gifted and had the world stage.

Here she is singing one of my favorite songs and I am still heartbroken at this brilliant and yet really sad performance.

Whatever our gifts, we need to wonder what is our obligation to develop them, and share them. And perhaps we need to wonder as to where those gifts came from!

I am not so sure it is just DNA!