Jack of All Trades, Master of None
Have you ever wondered how someone who can learn many things
could be disastrous for them? That's exactly what Peter’s feeling right now.
Peter is an ordinary teenager, not too bright, not too
brave, not too dashing even, but he is a person who easily adapts to his
environment. A person who easily adjusts to various conditions; toxic
friendship environment, unclear relationships, changing hobbies, kinds of
science and so on.
At school, he wasn't a class champion, he wasn't someone who
often got first place. Although he was not the class champion, he participated
in the Physics Olympiad at the regional level and he took third place. On the
other hand, he wasn't the one who won a sports competition, but he could play
all kinds of sports games; basketball, soccer, badminton, tennis, even swimming
and martial arts.
One day when he reached the age of two, he entered college.
In college, of course, he encountered many things; more diverse friendships,
more activities, and many interesting competitions to participate in.
In college, he chose to enroll in the social sciences major,
even though it was not linear with his major and what he had learned in school.
“I never thought you'd choose a social major over science. I thought you liked
natural science so much as you won the Physics Olympiad, didn’t you?” said
Albert during orientation.
Albert, he was Peter's friend and also a competitor in
science at school. It's not surprising, Peter thought, for Albert to ask this
question. For as far as he knew, Albert didn't really like science. “Yeah I
did, but I think I wanna learn a lot of other things now in college.”
“I didn't even think that way about the Olympiad back then.
Well, I only came third, not the first tho.”
—
As the semester progressed, things went smoothly. Peter had
no significant difficulties in adapting to social courses, nor to his circle of
friends. He even achieved a perfect GPA score at the end of the first semester.
“Congratulations on your perfect GPA! Coz I think it's not
easy for those who were different before to adapt to other things,” said Sarah
to Peter after the semester promotion announcement in the canteen.
“Thank you Sarah, but different, you say? What kind of
‘different’ do you mean?” Peter asked as he sipped a glass of iced lemon tea.
“I think a 'science' person like you would need more time
and efforts to adapt to social major like this, you know, like having to study
politics, society, culture, economics and even global outgoings,”
“Or even, I think a 'science' person would easily get bored
with something like that, because they would rarely encounter calculations or
struggling with formulas like before,” Sarah bombarded Peter with her babble.
Sarah is Peter's first friend in college. Sarah comes from
the south which is different from Peter in the north. They have been close
friends since the beginning of college. Peter and Sarah interact a lot by
sharing experiences, knowledge, tastes and hobbies.
“Do you think so? I think I'm just living my life as best I
can. If there are things that interest me, I try to learn, all of them,” Peter
replied casually.
—
In his second semester aka a year of college, Peter became
interested in topics around politics. Even more broadly, he was interested in
environmental issues and international relations. He eventually joined several
organizations and communities that focus on global and environmental issues.
“Thank you for taking part in our interview series. You are
hereby accepted as a member of our community!”
Peter's speaking skills are also quite capable. In various
ways, he succeeded in attracting the attention of anyone who listened to him.
Not surprisingly, he is now involved in two organizations, and three activities
at once. Peter's social circle is widening. More activities he participates in,
as well as the job he now holds.
On a Wednesday afternoon, Jack, Peter's friend from another
class, approached him while he was getting his bag from the locker room. “Hello
Peter! Are you going home now?” he asked.
“Umm yeah, as you can see,” Peter replied without a glance.
“Oh, come on. Can you give me an hour? Come play basketball with me on the
court.” Jack half begged.
“Okay, but you have to give me a sandwich afterwards.”
“Deal!”
—
The afternoon breeze blew gently, the sun shone faintly but
brightly. Peter and Jack are still playing one
on one basketball on the court across campus. In the middle of the game,
Jack asked Peter a question while still dribbling the ball, “You're pretty good
at basketball, why don't you join the basketball extracurriculars at this
college?”
“Ah, so this is your motivation for asking me to play
basketball? Are you looking for new members for next semester?” Peter said
half-suspiciously.
“Not really, although I could’ve invited and accepted you
easily, but that's not the point of my question.”
“So, what are you talking about?”
“You know, although I haven't known you for too long, but I
know that you seem to have a lot of activities. You have a lot of abilities,
not only in terms of academics but also non-academics.”
“I think, if I were you, I'd have a tough time doing them
all. I'd rather pursue the one thing that I'm really passionate about, and I'd
definitely become very good at it.”
Peter fell silent, let Jack dribble, then ran past him and
scored at the basketball ring, “You may have a point.”
“I'm sorry if I said something unkind.” Jack came over and
put his arm around Peter's shoulder, ”Come on, let's get a sandwich and go
home.”
—
“What a draining day,” Peter mumbled after washing his face
the night before going to bed and sleep.
While sleeping, Peter had a dream. It was quite a strange
dream, like he’d never had a dream like this before.
Peter was in a green and beautiful garden. With the sun
shining brightly, he could clearly see the whole garden. There were no humans
at all, but many animals he saw.
Peter decided to walk around the garden. Exploring every
corner carefully. Looking at everything around him intently. Out of everything
there, he was drawn to something. In a not-so-large pond, a platypus was
swimming and then pulled over.
This was the very first time Peter had seen a platypus, so
he approached the pond. He saw the glum look on the platypus's face. Peter also
saw that he was alone here, unlike the other animals who were in groups.
Curious, Peter tried to ask the platypus, “Hi Platypus, I'm Peter. I see you're
pensive alone here, don't you think?”
“I am fine, I was just pondering something trivial. Let it
go, I swear.” replied the Platypus shortly. Sensing that something was wrong,
Peter tried to ask him again in a more subtle way. This time Peter tried to ask
him to tell a story, “I’ll be silent, and ready to listen whenever you are
ready to speak.”
“I don't think I'm special,” the Platypus began to open his
mouth. “I mean, there are too many differences in me. Maybe for some, it's
uniqueness. But for me, it's nothing more than an oddity.”
“What do you mean? I really don't understand. Come on, I'll
listen to you until the end,” Peter said half-insistently.
“Look at me. I have many uniquenesses—or you could say
abilities. I have a beak like a duck which makes it easier for me to find food,
I have webbed feet for swimming, a tail like an otter, I have venom but it's
not deadly, I can even lay eggs even though I'm a mammal!”
“They even dubbed it the 'Platypus Curse'!”
Peter was silent, he seemed to have heard of the “Curse of
the Platypus” in a college encyclopedia book. The term "Platypus curse”
can also refer to situations where something is a combination of different
elements that don’t seem to belong together, leading to confusion or seeming
awkwardness. It captures the idea of being cursed
with a mix of characteristics that don't fit neatly into one category, much
like the platypus itself.
“They think I'm weird, that's why there are rarely any
animals that want to play with me. Because I don't belong to their group, I'm
not like them. I am too obscure,” the platypus explained stammeringly.
“I really didn't expect it. I thought, being able to do
everything, that's an extraordinary thing that makes us unique….”
Peter suddenly fell silent. He was contemplating what he had
just said.
“I think I understand, I feel the same way. I can learn
anything, but that's what sometimes makes me confused with myself, because I
only learn parts of it. I feel lost, and wonder what I should be in the
future.” Peter muttered, he also remembered what his friend, Jack had said
yesterday.
Suddenly there was a voice from the sky. A soft and soothing
voice for anyone who heard it.
“Oh, both of you! Be proud of what you have, for surely it
is a gift given and not everyone has it. Be grateful, and strive to develop the
thing you love the most.”
“It's like I'm too scared to be something, so I learn a lot
of things to be relevant to many things, to many people, to many dreams.” Peter
shouted, sitting on a patch of grass.
“Hey, it's okay. Maybe you can still do something about it.
Listen to Him and your heart.” said Platypus soothingly.
—
Peter woke up instantly. He was sweating and panting. It's
Thursday, 8 a.m. Class will start in one hour. He woke up half-heartedly, trying to recall what he had just experienced
in his long dream.
But strangely, when he got out of bed, he seemed to have
more confidence than before. A confidence that he had never experienced. Maybe
this was a passion that would guide his life's journey forward.
"It's now or never,” said Peter firmly.
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