“And the winners are…!!!” Our eyes and ears were glued to the TV as we nervously waited for the hosts of the talent show to announce the winners for this year. The loud cheering and applause of the audience gradually filled the living room.
“I wish I had some talent!” My companion’s unexpected downcast tone suddenly drowned the TV.
“Dude, you don’t look too bad being a hotheaded green muscular blob,” I tried distracting his melancholic air.
“That’s power, Father, not talent,” he emphatically corrected me.
“Come on, you know very well that we can’t have everything in life.”
“Blah, blah, blah… So, I just have to be satisfied with life being unfair?” He shrugged his shoulders and eyeball-rolled me.
“Lou, eyeball-rolling is only for girls,” I quipped.
“Yeah? Says who, Father?”
“Says me,” I elbow-nudged his shoulder. “Can’t you just enjoy the show?”
“I’m enjoying myself, but I still wish I had something special,” he slumped back into the sofa.
“Hey, just because men aren’t created equal doesn’t make life unfair,” I turned off the TV.
“But don’t talented people get a better slice of life?” Lou complained.
“Hasty generalization! Externally, it may look like that, but who can really say that the ‘slice’ they have is a better cut?”
“True, but that still doesn’t make me feel any better. I can’t just help see myself as an empty zero.”
“How pessimistically redundant can you be? Remember the story of a world where everyone was created ‘perfect?’”
“The Best of all Possible Worlds was a story I enjoyed,” he straightened up somewhat more animatedly.
“And do you recall what the moral was?”
“How can I not remember, Father. Life would be pretty boring if we were all created perfectly the same.”
“The differences among men, virtues and talents, are meant for humanity’s good and to also give glory to God.”
“That’s easy to say, Father. But today, if you don’t have something special you can’t access certain benefits and positions.”
“True and unfortunate. I was just reading a book the other day and I was struck that our culture today precisely wants to stress more on the résumé virtues over the eulogy virtues.”
“Résumé and eulogy virtues?” Lou asked.
“I just like the way the author said it: the world puts more emphasis on what we can achieve, growing into one’s strength and skills and shining in the
world. In other words, polishing one’s curriculum vitae. On the other hand, we fail to work on the eulogy virtues, that is, when we die, what will our loved ones say about us: were we kind, thoughtful, forgiving, compassionate and generous?”
“Wow, I never thought about that.”
“Me, neither. The author called the former attitude Adam 1 and the latter Adam 2. And I really liked the way he summarized it: ‘To nurture your Adam 1 career, it makes sense to cultivate your strengths. To nurture your Adam 2 moral core, it is necessary to confront your weaknesses.’” (Road to Character, D. Brooks)
“So it’s not all about talent, then?”
“Not entirely. It’s more of how we live virtue in whatever talent, skill or noble act we perform.”
“Virtue?” Lou lost the thread for a while.
“Sure, why not virtue? Without virtue, the most talented individual would be a total waste. Externally, he may look great. Interiorly, however, there may linger pride, laziness, complacency and many other vices.”
“I get it! Just like the saints, right? Even though many of them did not have special skills, they got to Heaven because of the heroic way they lived even the most ordinary things.”
“Right you are there. A spiritual writer explained this: ‘Each of us has something unique to give to God, which no one else in the world can give.’”
“It means, our life must be oriented toward discovering that particular uniqueness we can give God daily,” Lou excitedly said.
“Correct!”
“And it won’t be a matter of who’s got talent or not, but how one offers what is his and only his to give to God, right?”
“You couldn’t have said it better, Lou.”
“Then is it correct to say that our unique ordinary path is what God wants us to tread in order to become holy?”
“Yes. That is precisely why Heaven hasn’t got talent?”
“Huh?”
“What I mean is that what heaven has really got, are saints.”
“Amen!”