Geniuses

My boss had this quotation on his calendar the other day:

Talent is what you possess; genius is what possesses you.
-Malcolm Cowley

I pondered this for a while and came to the conclusion that I pretty much agree. Many people are intellectual or smart or intelligent because they've worked at acquiring knowledge and have applied it successfully. But geniuses...they don't work at it so much, it's just who they are. That's not to say that they don't work hard or acquire vast amounts of knowledge or lack intellectual prowess - to the contrary, many geniuses tend to display such tendencies. I simply contend that geniuses don't have to work at being a genius - it just flows from them.

I've been fortunate to have been around a pretty fair amount of folks I would consider to be geniuses. My jr. high special ed teacher was a brilliant educator and I learned every bit I could from her. I think Hayden is one. He might bitch a lot, but he bitches brilliantly. My ol' nemesis Colleen is probably one, and is growing more genius as she travels through life. My buddy James was the best game-player I ever knew and there's no doubt in my mind that if he was alive today he not only would have multiple national/world championship titles for various fantasy sports leagues and TCGs but would also have probably been hired as either a game designer or contract consultant to review new games.

I think most people are capable of moments of genius but only a few folks are blessed (or cursed, depending on your point of view) with living a life of genius.