Joseph Gergen Works

“Is that a bruise on your palm?”

“Yes.”

“How did you do that?”

“I smashed it with a hammer.”

“Your palm?”

Silence.

“I’m a very bad aim.”

And indeed I am a very bad aim. But I try to look at it in a positive light: It’s very difficult, though not impossible, to aim so bad you hit yourself in the head. I take some comfort in that. That’s assuming I’m not aiming at my own head, which I would never do, since I still have some self-preservation brain cells still in my head.

I don’t know why I’m such a bad aim. My vision is good enough. I have some hand-eye coordination: I can free hand draw a straight line and a nice circle; I can make a straight cut with a circular saw; I can catch almost anything.

Yet I cannot aim. At first, this does not seem serious. But it is. Aiming is everywhere.

Like aiming a car. Think of the pressure to stay within the lines. To get into that parking spot. Yikes.

Speaking of staying inside the lines. What about coloring? Not that I do much of that now days. And I’m not talking about coloring outside the lines because you’re a rebel. I’m talking about coloring outside the lines because you can’t stay in them.

Using a knife. Now that’s iffy. Trying to hit those little bugger vegetables is a bitch. And try cutting up a steak. How many totally random pieces can you end up with? Obviously quite a few. Becoming a knife-throwing side act is out of the question.

Think of all the activities I suck at where my efforts are just short of chaos: darts, bowling, bean bag toss.  How frustrating for my teammates. They see periods of semi-accurate efforts followed by total chaos.  Oh yes, I’m picked last. But don’t worry. I understand.

I suppose one can and perhaps should work on these skills. Perhaps not to excel but at least be competent or at worst not dangerous to oneself or others.

Yes, I should work on these weaknesses. But I have this awful habit of improving my strengths and totally disregarding and ignoring my weaknesses. Makes for rather lopsided capabilities, that’s for sure. Perhaps the first step is to aim in on not ignoring my weaknesses.