In every person lies dormant a genius. Once conceived to this world, it is the sole purpose of that individual to discover his genius and hone it to the proximity of perfection. Perfection is impossible, but it is certainly worth a lifetime to attempt it.
When genius is mentioned, we immediately think of child performers and wizards. In my opinion, there is no such thing as prodigy. Prodigy merely defines an early achievement of advanced status. It does not define character, piety, nor discipline. Scary talent amazes me just as anyone else, but what truly awes me even more is the amount of blood, sweat, and tears an individual sheds to sculpt his talent into genius.
The reason why we believe in prodigy is because we are delusional. We fail to see, let alone believe the hard work that so-called "prodigies" put into their field of expertise. We are inclined to acknowledge that their amazing skills are merely inherent. This delusion therefore discourages the majority to hone their genius, because their negative mindset that genius is an innate concept diminishes their will to match their skills to that of prodigies.
Innate concept? Quite the contrary. Genius is attainable by everyone. When one looks for his genius however, he is consistently faced with an arch-nemesis: laziness. Laziness is the poison of progress. It wastes time. It discourages people. It creates regrets. We are not willing to overcome our laziness and surpass our bloated selves to perform to our fullest potential. To succumb to laziness is to relinquish your genius. Relinquishing your genius is equivalent to that of yielding your happiness, for it is our genius that we are able to pursue our passions and live happily.
Even though we find the heavy chains of our own laziness cumbersome, we sit still with those chains on our legs and let the consequences of indolence act upon us. We lose interest in our passions. We lose interest in life. We lose interest in happiness. We become sluggards, mediocre people, fat bloated imbeciles.
I am not averse to lazy people. In fact, I am friends with many of them and I too am quite lazy. However, my biggest turnoff is when a person who has already discovered his genius neglects to perfect it. The negligent one lies on the couch, his eyes glued to the television, his mouth hanging open like a cavern. Every minute of his wasteful life, his genius deteriorates because he refuses to pick up his instrument and practice, he ignores the work that he is obligated to complete, and he shuts himself from the advice of his peers and parents.
"You're so smart and talented, if you just got up off your lazy ass and tried you'd be brilliant!" How many times have we heard that? How many of your parents say that increasingly annoying pet phrase of theirs? It may be annoying, but it speaks the truth. To neglect your genius is to neglect yourself. If you neglect yourself, no one should be obligated to any favors from you.
Genius requires patience and perseverance. It is a tedious task but immensely rewarding. However, to be a prodigy and be negligent and apathetic is not genius. It is pure stupidity.
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