She’s the “Jack of all trades”, but the “Ace of no spades”.
She’s dabbled her pen in different inks, but holds no power on one rink.
What happens when you’ve put all your energy into knowing a little bit of everything, and a whole lot of nothing on one thing?
Director Baz Luhrman wrote a song in 1998 called “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”, and it’s an oddly poignant song for the era it was released. Part of the song went as such: “Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year-olds I know, still don’t.”
Here lies the problem, I know what I want to do with my life, I’m just feeling a bit unprepared for it. I’ve spent the last ten to twelve years extending my reach. I’ve sought out my interests, with the exception of auto shop (picked the wrong high school…), and I’ve diversified myself and my talents. But the two things in my life that mean the world to me, the two things that keep me alive and running, I know very little about.
If it’s your passion, shouldn’t you be crazy about learning and living it? If writing is my passion, shouldn’t I be a more avid reader than I am currently? I should be capable of dropping names and titles left, right, and center; but I can’t. I know people in the sciences who’ve read more books than I have as an English Major.
If music is such a big part of me, why do I feel under qualified? Yes I love the instruments I play. Yes I love making up my own songs, writing my own lyrics, and recording insanely long tracks of me playing when I’m bored, but I don’t seem to know the intricate details I should. How is it that I want to be able to scribe out my songs, but I don’t have the solid theory background to support that? Shouldn’t I be so passionate about music, that I pushed myself to learn these things?
In the atmosphere we’re being groomed to enter, there’s little to no fighting chance for the “Jacks of all trades”. You need to be an Ace to survive. You need your speciality, your niche, your super power. You have to hone your super power, you have to train, you have to have your darn spinach and be prepared to fight at any given time.
When you’re a “Jack of all trades” it’s like playing Mario Bros. and running around jumping over hurdles, pipes, and bullets that are too big to handle without your mushroom. When you’re an “Ace of Spades” you’re Liu Kang, ready to participate in the tournament, and ready to take down Shao Khan. You’ve been training all your life for this moment, and you’re so much more than just ready.
While it would be lovely for all of us to secretly be able to do everything, and still specialize in one thing, that’s often not the case. It takes energy, time, devotion, and often money, to be an “Ace of Spades”. While I have the energy and the devotion, I often lack the remaining two necessities.
Besides, what’s so wrong with knowing a little bit of everything and not really knowing a lot of one thing? There’s nothing wrong with it, to be honest. The ever changing world, however, begs to differ. Bachelors, Masters, P.H.D., Certificates, and Awards, are all medallions we chase after when being an Ace, and they’re medallions that, in many ways, issue a “Pass GO, Collect $200″ ticket. I’m not berating the educational system, and neither am I saying that it’s okay to be lazy and not work toward something.
I’m simply venting. As someone who has far too many interests for her own good, I’m venting because I want to do it all; even the impossible. Could Mario ever really finish the game without the occasional mushroom? Popeye would eventually learn that the power wasn’t always in the spinach. And Liu Kang had to have other interests in his life that he explored…right?
Impossible = I’m possible.
I always figured that it was better to know a little about a lot rather than a lot about little. The concept of knowing a lot about a lot seems difficult, not impossible though.
When it comes to figuring out what your niche is and what area you excel in most, in terms of talent and interest, I think it’s better to know a lot about a little rather than its reciprocal. Like you said, if you know more about what you’re working on, you’ll master it more.
Good job.