Specialization

[Kay Thompson Fields]

When American society moved from subsistence living to the Age of Connsumerism we lost the Renaissance Man Ability(for the most part.. it is way dangerous to generalize based on personal experience).A grown man throws a large round ball through a hoop and earns thousands of times more monetary compensation than say someone who actually does something useful, as for example,a carpenter..After the game(His JOB),he showers,grooms and attires himself in really expensive GEAR.Emanations of fame drift around his exalted personage..He gets in his expensive, tricked out Ride and goes where to do What?.. Stop.. Rewind.. Of course another possibility exists...He or SHE showers, dresses,gets in a 10 year-old anonymous grey sedan,or takes the bus,rides a bike,or WALKS to the hospital to their other job as a pathologist,nurses" aide,janitor.. Or perhaps hours are spent tutoring illiterate adults,raising prize winning orchids or alpacas,weaving, dog grooming,writing technical journals, mentoring Oprah,volunteering as a museum docent,practicing Shamanism, penning Wok cookbooks or photographing only Victorian doll houses.. The possibilities are myriad..Also I assume at some point some amount of time is allocated to continue to hone the ball through the hoop skill.... Now I personally know a carpenter Really Really Well..Let me list just a few of his skills and abilities.. 1) Frame a house 2) Cut the roof..3)Cut stairs..4)Trim all house 5) Tape,bed and texture house 6) Paint..7) Pour concrete.. 8) Set doors..9) Roof a house.. 10) Landscape architect.. 11) Install sprinkler systems..12) Grow all plants with particular emphasis on vegetables(Master Gardener) 13) Cook.14) Do Laundry.. 15) Sew.. 16) Install all types of flooring,although he himself has only hand scraped wood and tile..17) do any type tile work, showers, backsplashes,etc18) Fix any appliance and most heating and air conditioning issues.. 19)Complete plumbing and septic  skill set..example French drains..20) Manage financial portfolio.. Has Masters in Economics(yawn). 21) Excellent computer skill set...22)Parent extraordinaire.. 23)Successful spouse..24) Personally very self motivated and disciplined.. To continue would simply become gratitious.. Now I am not personally acquainted with any "Specialists",athletes or anyone who earns an Obscenely Large Paycheck..Of course, the carpenter has the aptitude and ability to earn all that and a bag of chips,, However; if he chose to do that how ould he have the time or energy to engage in all his other Pursuits? He is dependent on Noone or Anything for his basic survival...How many of today"s "wired or Specialist" generation can say the same? My 13 year old grandson had never seen anyone take an iron skillet, oil, a potato, a knife and potato peeler and Creatr French Fries..While I salted them he asked why I didn't have a Fry Daddy(actually I am not really sure what a Fry Daddy is).. So I asked him,"What if you didn't have any electricity?"He wasn"t really able to get his head around that as he inhaled the hot,salty spuds