Jack-of-all-Trades noun
: a person who can do passable work at various tasks
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
I don't know how this would fit in with my regular rants, but let's see how it goes.
Something I have been throwing around my head for quite a while now is how AMAZINGLY versatile we are, but how little we actually use it. In the grand scheme of things, as animals and mammals, we are quite.... unique. Let me elaborate.
Running:
From when we can first walk, we start to toddle faster and faster. As we get older, we learn to sprint, and run distance. This might not seem very exciting, and compared to some of our mammalian cousins, like the panther, we are would be schooled terribly in a race (and possibly eaten), but this is a bigger picture, remember.
Swimming:
Ok, we do kinda suck in water. Compared to dolphins and whales, we really suck in water. We are trounced when it comes to distance and speed, and if we try and breathe whilst submerged, things get awkward. But it is something we CAN do. We can throw ourselves into a river and achieve forward propulsion. So, remember this, big picture.
Climbing:
Right, we aren't exactly squirrals, but we can climb trees, rocks, mountains, buildings, and any number of tall apparatus. We aren't great at it, and we don't exactly land on our feet and feel fine after falling 10 times our own body size (think cat off a fence, that'd be like 60ft for us), but humans are capable of going upwards as well as forwards.So where does this all come together?
Can you think of anything that can do those 3 things? How about add the fact we are bipedal but also capable of crawling? We can explore potholes and gaps just small enough to fit our shoulders through. We are capable of fighting, and violence, eventually capable of utilising incredible reactions that do not require a single thought. Understandably, we haven't added flying to our repertoire yet, but evolution takes time.
Despite all this, how many of us actually cultivate these abilities? Even one of them? I think we are doing ourselves a great disservice. The term "Jack of all Trades" is usually followed by "master of none", and is usually derogatory, but for humans it is one of our greatest achievements. Something that no other animal has yet mastered.
I have only come to realise this in any depth in the past couple years, after learning to swim quite competently, run between towns, climb mountains, and punish people on the mats. And it saddens me, where evolution might take us if we don't at least use these skills.
It starts to become derogatory, it starts to sound like the Cantonese variant.
"Equipped with knives all over, yet none is sharp"
(Thanks wiki)
