I always think that Rana resembles me when I was a kid in a lot of ways - his preference of toys, his fascination in stairs despite his fear of height - reminds me of my childhood. That’s why when I play Lego with him, I usually also build things that I liked when I was a kid, like ships, robots, and jet fighters. But one day, when he played Lego, I saw him constructed something that I never saw before. A guitar. The guitar was small, that’s why I then made a bigger version for him (I was thinking of buying him a guitar toy - I saw some in 100 yen shop - but then I remember that when I was a kid I also didn’t have all the toys that I wanted, but I was always able to make a makeshift from Lego and it was a lot of fun. I don’t want to steal that kind of exciting experience from him, that’s why I didn’t buy him a guitar toy).
It’s not the fact that he was able to make his own guitar that surprised me, it was the fact that he was thinking about making guitar. When I was a kid, I often saw guitars and guitarists, but I never thought to make one with Lego. I made telephones, cameras, jet fighters, robots, even space shuttles, but never guitar. While on the other hand, Rana rarely saw guitar here, but still, he built his own Lego guitar. Is this what it’s called by talent? Well, I am not a believer in the concept of passion (any skill or activity that you are willing to invest on for a certain amount of time will become your ‘passion’ eventually), but I do believe that each of us was born with multiple talents that can always be leveled up throughout our lifetime. Maybe one of Rana’s talents is music, or even mathematics (studies showed that the brain area that we use for playing music is the same as that for math thinking), I don’t know. But if one day he comes to me and says, ‘I want to be a guitarist!’, I will let him choose the road that he will embark forward (of course after he finishes his compulsory education). The same will apply if he says that he wants to be a mathematician. (Well, if I ask him now, I think he will say that he wants to be a train driver, which would also be superb ).
But of course I don’t want him to be just another guitarist, or just another mathematician. If he chooses to be a guitarist, I will show him how good Eddie Van Halen with his guitar techniques (both in the sense of proficiency and mechanical: he’s a damn excellent guitarist, and his idea of using power drill to play guitar or his experiment with changing guitar’s stem and body made him more than just a great guitarist). Or, if I wanna nudge him to a higher education, I can also mention that Bryan May holds a Ph.D in Astrophysics. If he chooses to become a mathematician, I can introduce him to Leibniz, who was also well versed in theory of music. Or maybe the fact that Einstein was also good at playing violin will be enough to make him realize that there is no harm in excelling at multiple fields.
And Rana, if you’re already big enough when you read this stuff and still not certain which path to choose, just come to me. I might not have all the answers that you need, but I still can tell you the story of a farmer and a consultant (you know my son, perhaps it would be hard to believe, but once upon a time, a long long time ago, your father was a management consultant ). I believe that the story would chase all your worries away .
