on giftings and talents

Everybody is good for something. Nobody is good for nothing :)

In every situation where I am allowed by the classroom discussion flow to ask my students, "What are you good at? Or what are your gifts? Talents?", I am always met with introspective stares.

To my mind, it is either they have not found their talents yet or they have fallen victim to broadcast media's limited definition of talent to either singing, dancing, acting or drawing.

There's a book out there. I think it first came out about two to three years ago. Its title is StrengthFinder. It is a helpful book because it tells the reader what are his top 5 strengths or abilities. Talents. On top of that, the book also suggests action plans to hone the strength or talent :)

It is also pleasantly surprising to know that there are more than 40 talents. Broadcast media and its "talent" shows has done us a huge disservice :)

But what I like most about that book is the fact that it categorically TELLS you what are your talents. Because I think it is very hard to figure out by yourself what your talents are. For one, talent is something we do naturally. And it is because we do it naturally, without effort, we take it for granted. And we don't see that it is something unique. Valuable :)

And this is why I think our gifting never really become a blessing to us and for others.

You see, for a talent to be a blessing - we have to know what talent we have. And once we know, it is necessary that we hone our talents. And it is in the honing that talents become a blessing. It can not become a blessing if we do not know what it is first :)

It is fascinating to think or imagine a world or an office where people are doing what they do great "without" effort and getting paid for it :)

Is it possible for a school or maybe a professor, instead of simply facilitating learning, correcting mistakes and giving grades, also take on a role of a StrengthFinder?

Hmmmm, interesting :)

"... why think like mere men?"