Exceptionalism

Sherlock and Mycroft are brothers, both are exceptional but as in life, one candle outshines the other. Throughout their childhood one was always more capable, more insightful and more observing than the other. That's right, Sherlock was always second fiddle.

For those of you not familiar with the Sherlock Holmes stories, allow me to shed a little light. Sherlock's brother appeared in a couple of stories and it was always mentioned that his brain was much larger that of his baby brothers. His only trouble was that he was lazy. While Sherlock would occasionally go and ask a question of him, past that he wasn't much use.

Laziness is the sapping kryptonite of potential. You can have all the potential in the world, but if your don't apply yourself, what good is it? Anyway...what was I typing? Mercy... 500 words is looking like a thousand to me right now. I think I'm just going to throw in the towel. Maybe tomorrow I'll have the desire to finish this...

...yawn

Okay okay!!

Anyway. The point is simple. Sherlock was the better of the two, not because of all the potential that he had been blessed with, but because of all the tenacity that he applied to a situation. He cataloged the various dirt's of London, had exstensive knowledge of ballistics and took a painstakingly tedious amount of time investigating a crime scene. He rarely slept while on a case and was able to overcome an opiate addiction on his own. He is the pinnacle of the fictional self made man.

So exceptionalism isn't a birthright. It's a choice. Just becuase you were born with potential doesn't mean you will amount to anything. We see people throw away their lives everyday, who had buckets of potential. Potential is nothing compared to tenacity.

We make choices every day. Good ones, bad ones and benign ones fly at us all the time. We have a choice to apply ourselves or not. Tenacious people fail frequently. They fall on their faces time and time again. The difference between tenacious people and potential people is getting back up. I've heard so many sob stories in my day, "I've had it rough." or "You don't know what I've been through." or "I'm just not as exceptional as they are."

Guff! Hogwash! Malarkey!

Doing isn't easy, but it's motion. You cannot progress without motion. All the brains in the world can't make someone go if they've got no motivation. So get up, and do it.

Go. Try. Fail. Learn. Do.

7 comments:

Tony said...

Well said!

There was a discussion regarding movies in another place, not so long ago. and your post reminds me of this. One big gripe I have with a lot of movies is just this - or rather, the opposite of your post. The movies seem to be full of people who succeed not because of their hard work and skills but due to simply being born special (also, sheer dumb, in fact monstrously idiotic luck and plot holes the size of Jupiter often play a part, but anyways). "He is The One." Always aggravates me. And movies do reflect the society, or one part of the society, they are made in. Hence, looks to me like success by sheer dumb luck is a method much admired and sought after in our current society. (Of course you can see this in many other places than just the movies. They are merely a topic that first came to my mind due to the earlier discussion regarding them.) This does not say very good things about the current state of the Western world.

(Of course, it would be so much easier for me to believe in the success by sheer dumb luck model, as I am one lazy bastard... It would be easier to blame someone else for my failures. :p But I can't, the logic is inescapable. Bugger.)

jen said...

A big clap for you blog

AndrewMueller47 said...

I like your points. I feel like the type of person who prefers to just imagine that I can do whatever I want, then not try, because then I can't be proved wrong. Haha.

AndrewMueller47 said...

I like your points. I feel like the type of person who prefers to just imagine that I can do whatever I want, then not try, because then I can't be proved wrong. Haha.

Peter Brown said...

Andrew, long time no chat! How goes it. That would be tenacity, and I honestly think it is a very good trait....

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