Gifted and Talented (Caturday Questions)

Teachers assigned us labels when we were younger, like “gifted” or “gifted and talented.” Or, in rare cases, “prodigy.” What do these labels mean? Do they help us or hurt us? Can we change them? Can we own them? Some people discover their labels as adults. And then there are those labels on your writing. Are you a “romance author” or a “mystery author” or “queer author” or..? For some writers, a label sets us free. For some, a label is a cage.

What does it Mean to be “Gifted and Talented”?

What does “gifted and talented” mean? A lot of the time, it means spending your energy in one area of achievement by neglecting others. Little Cat is an amazing viola player. (‘Catgut’ strings are not made from the guts of a cat.) He was not born gifted. Or talented. Nor was he a prodigy, or anything like that. No. He put in the time.

And that time came from somewhere. He neglected other areas of his development. He hasn’t been putting in the hours to keep his claws sharp. And that means that he doesn’t hut birds as well as Big Cat. He doesn’t shred clothing and furniture as well as Middle Cat. And that’s okay. He is his own person.

A life may contain a lot of hours. Or it may not. But in no circumstance does a life contain enough hours to study everything. So we do what mortals must do. we choose.

Labels: “Gifted and Talented,” “Remedial”…

So the cats have been talking it over and they would like to know: What about you? Did some well-meaning teacher or psychologist assign you a label when you were a kid? Or when you were an adult? Or the opposite. Maybe an uglier brand like “remedial”? And what about other words that get stuck to us and change the way teachers and other adults view us as we grow up and develop a sense of who we are? ADHD, Autism, Bipolar… Some of us did some digging and chose these labels for ourselves as adults. A lot of Autistic people, in particular, self-diagnose.

A label can be a map. It can also be a trap. Which labels did you acquire when you were a kid? Or since? Did the label help you? Did you get the attention you needed? Or did it give adults a convenient excuse to ignore or dismiss you?

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Behold! Two cats seated upon a damask cushion. An orange of ample and stately proportion, blessed with a serene countenance. Beside him a lies a small grey whose eyes ask little from the world and give less. The grey cries out: “Crap!” To which the orange responds: “What’s wrong, Little Cat?” In answer, the grey laments: “I think I just went from has potential to had potential.”

Somewhere in the distance, an ice cream truck rolls past, its bell-like jingle blaring nonsensically into the night’s humidity.