So my latest obsession, of which I have many, is The Hunger Games trilogy and Katniss Everdeen is my shero. She's super badass, a tough cookie, a social misfit (like me :-D) smart, intuitive, brave, pretty much the bees knees (yeah, I said bees knees). There is just something about her character that I feel is a complete representation of me. Thanks to minoring in English during my college years, I feel that I better relate to certain characters, that I understand them better than most people do since I tend to do character analysis while read.
But I'm not here to convince anyone to read The Hunger Game, (even though I SERIOUSLY think it should be required reading in order to exist on this planet) or to tell everyone how much I just LOVES me some Katniss (and Gale - Team Gale) but it is to draw upon a point that I found so defining of my life as it was defining in the world of Katniss Everdeen.(*Sidenote - If I start talking or in this case writing as if I'm writing some sort of term or thesis paper, it's because I have yet to master separating grad school for the rest of my world. So if I start citing sources and use APA or MLA formatting, pleaseee bare with me - that will be all. CONTINUE).
I'm reading Catching Fire, the second book in the trilogy, and as I was reading, I stumbled across a paragraph so true that I had to stop, think, read, stop, think, and read again. The paragraph stated and I quote: "...started to call to work on my talent. Every victor is suppose to have one... It can be anything, really....I don't have a talent, unless you count hunting illegally a talent, which they don't...my mother tried to interest me in suitable alternatives...cooking, flower arranging, playing the flute. None of them took" (Collins, pp. 39).
And then...EUREKA!!! It hit me like Manny Pacquiao (see Money Mayweather, even I'm not afraid to get hit by Pacquiao)I finally was able to say to myself something that has rung true for years. I HAVE NO TALENT. Seriously, like none. Zip, zilch, Na-Da! Everything I do, is mediocre. Cooking - I burn water. Singing - I make dogs howl. Speaking another language - I can barely master English, let's leave the others alone. Knitting - whenever I try to make a scarf, I end up making some pitiful replication of a table coaster. I have no talent whatsoever, which really stinks. I mean I'm surrounded by people who have exceptional capabilities. My older brother can draw better than Van Gogh, my mother is the Haitian Martha Stewart (sans the jail time), my dad has business skills like Warren Buffett, hell, even my little brother can beat any video game with mind (aannnd a controller and countless hours to waste). I even have coworkers who are just awesome at stuff, makeup, computer, martial arts. Where does this leave me? Talentless, with nothing to offer the world?
I'll tell you where this leaves me gosh dang it. Like Link from The Legend of Zelda I, Slajanna Jean, am on a quest. On a quest to find a talent(s). Now for those of you who know me, oh so well, know that one of my biggest character flaws is my lack of follow through. I start things, get super excited and motivated, and once the week is over, I'm over it. But I need to change all that. Like Katniss, I'm huntin, only instead of game, it's for my talent. I can't wait to see how this plays out. Stay tuned.
We'll be right back after these brief messages from our local sponsors.
-S
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