Genius
A lot has happened this week, and one of the things that jumped up demanding to be noticed is what I can only call genius. The Romans thought a genius was a particular spirit that hung around certain people and made them more effective than others, in very specific ways. This week I was privileged to notice several examples.
My friend Kenny came to dinner. He’d spent about 20 years in jail for something he didn’t do. He was sometimes on the shady side of the law as a kid and got nailed. He’s been out now for eight. He’s a delightful person who really does have a magnificent genius for being cheerful and productive all the time. He uses his vast amount of energy in more ways than I can list, and it’s always with the view that we can do things for the betterment of everyone if we think differently. He was like that behind bars, too. He set up tutoring classes, study groups, he even did literacy work, all as an inmate with just about no resources - and a ton of opposition from the adminstration. Whenever I think something’s too hard or too much trouble I only have to think of Kenny to shake myself out of it.
Kenny first recognized his genius for not giving in, for not despairing, and how that could be used productively, when he was in the hellish isolation block. It was around that time he stopped trying to escape and started freeing his mind.
And here’s the point. I can’t hope to do as much as Kenny does in a day. His particular genius is for working with people, being optimistic, and inspiring. I can admire that. I don’t have it to anything like the same degree, that’s all. My friend Maureen has a genius for being calm and supportive. I’ll never be able to do what she does so naturally. And it doesn’t matter that I can’t, because it’s their genius, not mine.
We are here to appreciate that there are many types of genius, that gifts are never the same, and so we all have to find out what our own personal genius involves. Because it will be at the center of who we are, if we take the time to listen for it.
Here’s to Kenny, still inspiring, every day.
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Hi Allan,
I love this idea of each of us having our own personal genius. It often seems to me that it is much easier for us to see other people’s genius than to see our own. I’ve noticed with people that the things that are so natural to them, and that others see as a gift, they will downplay, if not entirely disown, as not possibly being their genius. They might say (or just think) “how can something that is so natural and so obvious possibly be my genius?” Sometimes I think we are, in a sense, facing the wrong direction to see our own genius, and it takes those close to us to point out the seemingly obvious, as you have so generously done for the two friends in your post. Not that we can’t find it on our own, of course, but after all, it does take holding up a mirror to see the color of our own eyes…
Julie
on January 13th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Dear Julie,
Thank you so much for your comment - you’re right on target, as always. One of the things I’ve often noticed is the naumbers of people who, as you point out, throw their genius away. “Oh yeah, I did a lot of [fill in the blank] when I was a kid but I never did anything with it…”
So many of us are facing the wrong way. And we need that mirror, too…..
As ever, Allan
on January 16th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Thank you Julie and Allan.
I’m about to write a chapter for my book, one that I’ve been avoiding.
Before I begin, I’m going to ascertain my direction.
MLou