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Show Taesday, Noveaber The Dally Utah Chronicle - 7 14, 1995 Columnist Covets the Sample Life of a Prodigy Eva Michelle Hunter Chronicle Feature Writer lb be brilliant, but normal and average and everyday and, well, anything less than whatever it is that prodigies are. They are like deities, aren't they, these people who are concert pianists at age 14, world renowned violinists at age 8, these people with perfect scores on any standardized test in existence? O, to be a prodigy. It seems, almost, that life would become somehow simpler. After all, if I had one outstanding talent, one gift which could dazzle the world and myself, would I be wondering what to major in? Would my future seem as bleak and uncertain as it does now? I think not. I think destiny would have spoken. Maybe divine predestination only exists for those people who are the unspeakably talented. Or maybe unspeakable talent is predestination. O, to be a prodigy, lb be anything And those of us who are not prodigies were bora mediocre enough to be altogether ignored by fate. Not that I am whining. I love my life, and I can almost vaguely see where it is heading. I am, after all, in school. I am making choices, just like everyone else, and I am hoping that the choices I make now will eventually lead to happiness. I think that's good, and normal. Why, then, do I covet the very appearance of brilliance in other people? Normal just doesn't seem good enough. I want to be Great. I do understand that there are precious many burdens which fall upon the shoulders of the exceptionally gifted. Expectations, for example. Where much is given, much is required. Suddenly, life may seem completely controlled by the demands of parents, audi ences, teachers, even people like me, who would probably lead some type of revolt if I felt that some great talent was going to waste some talent which, under different circumstances, could have been mine. I wonder how many of these great heroes are really happy. To have cultivated their gifts, they must have some passion, some benevolent drive which pushed them to the very of excellence, but how many arc bitter? How many wish that they could blend into the crowds and then go home to an evening of goofing around, rather than hours of practice or study or whatever else is required in the maintenance of stellar talent. For example, I have played the limits Maybe unspeakable tal- ent is predestination. And those of us who are not prodigies were born mediocre enough to be altogether ignored by fate. (jS2 Theprtildtits ofTheUtitedSt K gMTn"cv'i IifcVii (ffiKb WWW "V if rl jf piano for 10 years and could rival only the most elementary students. But, even with that slight glimpse into the world of a pianist, I cannot begin to truly envy the hours of finger breaking practice which a true pianist endures, and even sometimes welcomes. I don't have what it takes to be a prodigy. mind-twistin- 2 I suppose it isn't all glitz and glamour, the world of a teenaged star, no matter what the venue. I can appreciate that. After all, these are real flesh and bones people, right? Maybe not. They are only real people if I know them personally, if I can touch their skin and realize that it's human. Otherwise, they are icons of paint on poster paper, tiny pixels on television screens, faceless, voiceless words on a page. These people become their talents in my mind. Poets become their poems, seen only through abstract thought which sits in some anthology on a . shelf. Musicians become recordings, ris- ing and falling notes in harmony or discord, translated into the bright and shiny fame of a compact disc. Actors become people without names of their own, without personalities of their own, flat faces on flat screens and flat movie posters. But Great nonetheless. And I envy that. I don't need to be famous to survive. No one does, that I know of. But the gifted have a choice. They can use their talents to achieve the status of hero or Great or prodigy, or Oil f they can choose something else. Anything else. I do not have the same choice. Granted, I can do what I can with what I have, but I do not have the choice to become brilliant. I cannot choose to have talent in one area or another. I can work passionately and obsessively, to expand the knowledge which I do have, and if I wanted to become a pianist (an example which works so well), I could practice day in and day out and perhaps become very technically talented, but the magic is not there. Greatness is a state of being, not a level of achievement, though achievement often highlights brilliance. I truly believe that people are born with it. Talent, greatness, whatever. It comes with the package. Some people have it, others don'f. If everyone could become a virtuoso simply by practicing, there would cease to be a state of virtuosi- For prodigies, something amazing happens when they practice. Or when the think, or write, or turn cartwheels ... something seems to click, and they are suddenly able to draw people in to them and their art. That is what I covet. Not the talents themselves, not the fame which accompanies them, but the ability to make people feel. This must be the true test of a prodigy. Someone who has not only cultivated some ability, but can use it as a tool to evoke any given response. The artist with her paint, her pencils. The musician with her instrument, the genius with her insights about the world which surrounds us, the poet with her beautiful words. O, to be a prodigy. To be able to enlighten the world simply by existing. Boys from page 3 defender and were ordered held without bond. A preliminary hearing before Kennedy is scheduled Nov. 27. Shanahan was returned to the Jefferson County Jail, Lundquist to the Clark County Jail in Dubois and Jenkins to the Fremont County Jail in St. Anthony. If they arc convicted, all three could face the death penalty, but a prison sentence is more likely given their age. "We will aggressively prosecute," Dunn said. "I'm certain that the community will desire that these youth be prosecuted to the full extent of the law." He said two of the teens have made written confessions. Youths have been involved in several Idaho murders in the past two years. James Robert "Bobby" Lee Moore of Boise was 14 when he gunned down a New Hymouth policeman in January 1994. The same month, a boy was accused of shooting his father to death near Rogcrson. was conA Latah County teen-age- r victed of shooting liis younger brother in their home later in 1994, and two Mountain Home teens face a murder trial next March for allegedly killing a Forest Service engineer last spring north ofWciscr. Tomchak apparently was stocking shelves at her store six miles west of Rigby last Friday when she was shot from behind, Olscn said. She died instantly of a single shot to the head. The youths were arrested without incident about 5:30 p.m. Saturday by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper who stopped them for speeding on Interstate 15 near Brigham City, in northern Utah. The car, which was owned by Shanahan though it had Twin Falls plates, reportedly travclingDO mph. The three were returned to Rigby on Sunday, and Olscn said authorities recovered what they believe to be the murder weapon. |
