If you crack the shell, you might find your prize inside.


Some of us have to work harder than others. It is true. This is selective, however. We all can become good at the things we want to be good at doing. If you don’t follow, here’s an example. Let’s say you are given the task of baking a frosted cake. You’ve made hundreds of frosted cakes in your life, and this chore is no chore at all. It is instinctual at this point, almost reflexive. Early on, this was very important to you, to learn this skill, and now, you completely enjoy this. You can bake a cake with your eyes closed and it will come out perfectly. Away you go, like floating on air. The end product is extraordinary, crowds gather, people cheer. But. You are also given the task of fixing your flat tire, from the nail you picked up at the grocery store when you were buying the cake supplies. You haven’t changed a tire in 30 years, maybe never. You are not even sure you can do it, and it takes hours just to figure out how to get the jack out of the trunk. This will be a lot of work. Maybe even failure.

Now, reverse the roles for Manny, who owns Manny’s Garage on the corner of 5th and Elm. He’s got that tire fixed in about 3 minutes. But the cake? All bets are off. We all have our talents, our strengths, our chutzpah.

Sometimes, though, there are those duties that should be second nature for all of us. For some people, they are easy-peasy. And for others, they are daunting or impossible. Take the example of the chicken, who bore this egg. I’d say a bit of a struggle went on with this one. One unhappy chicken. A Four-Cluck-Alarm if you ask me. The rest of the tray shows instances of smooth sailing, but old Henrietta had a time with this one, and the shell is living proof.

Vanna White is another example. For some unknown reason, I enjoy watching The Wheel of Fortune. I’m a pretty decent puzzle solver, but that’s not it. A lot of times, the goofiness of this can be annoying. I think the reason I watch is because I like to see people win money and the ensuing happiness which emerges.

Anyway, Pat Sajak got sick and had to take some time off. Vanna stepped in as substitute host. Vanna is great at walking back and forth across stage, turning letters. However, she has very little ability in the Game-Show-Host Arena. l think they should have farmed out some other celebrity to fill the bill. In other words, Vanna can bake the cake, but she can’t change the tire.

Back to the egg, and the uneven scales of ability.

It makes me a little woozled when I read those advice columns on “finding your life purpose.” Most of us, I think, are at one time or another, focused on this. We long to find our meaning, our purpose, our reason for being here. And every one of those articles advises us to simply identify our passion. They instruct, “To find your purpose, identify what you are passionate about.”

Well, there was a time in my life when drinking beer was a real passion for me, but I doubt that was supposed to be my purpose. These days, I get pretty worked up over the perfect cheeseburger, but that can’t be it either. For a time I was a competitive softball player, and sports were all I ate, drank, and slept. Except for the beer. But playing ball isn’t my purpose either, I don’t think. Chemistry. Nope. Photography. Nope. I am in my dusty middle years, and I have yet to identify my big objective.

Yet, there are those people who knew they wanted to be doctors, or teachers, pilots, plumbers, or parents. Cake bakers. Candlestick Makers. Most people want to help others, and their purpose lines up with this. The success of their purpose ensues.

The heroes. The warriors. The champions. The smooth eggs.

And then, there are those of us that keep pushing out these magnificent monstrosities, where you’re not even sure there will be a yolk inside, once you crack the shell.

Perhaps that’s the point. As that clever Will Rogers once said, ““We can’t all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
Maybe that’s my draw. I make a good clapper.

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“If you have a strong purpose in life, you don’t have to be pushed. Your passion will drive you there.”
― Roy T. Bennett
(See what I mean?)
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“If you hang out with chickens, you’re going to cluck and if you hang out with eagles, you’re going to fly.”
― Steve Maraboli,
(And both lay eggs, Stever.)

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(And then there is this.)
“Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

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