Clumsiness is a Talent: "The Recommendation of Clumsiness" #07

When I was a student, I was an athlete in a certain sport.

In junior high school, I had a classmate who was extremely gifted at the sport.
A movement that took me a whole week of repetition to finally master, this classmate could perform in about an hour.
While I worked much harder than my classmate, who tended to slack off on practice, I could not match their ability or achievements.

—Honestly, I looked down on myself for being so clumsy.

Later, we went to different high schools, and in the spring tournament of our second year, I had the opportunity to compete against that classmate.
As a result, I was able to win with unbelievable ease.
After that, we competed several more times, but I won decisively every time and never lost once.

Some time ago, a television program featured a master temple carpenter who works on the restoration of cultural heritage sites like Horyu-ji Temple.
The master said that to pass on his skills, he interviews over 100 applicants every year to hire and train apprentices.

He explained his hiring criteria as follows—

"I hire children who are clumsy."
"Dexterous children understand quickly and can do the work right away, but clumsy children take time."
"Dexterous children learn the work with their heads, while clumsy children learn the work with their bodies."
"Work learned with the body becomes a genuine skill that never wavers."
"I want to hire children who face their work with all their might, even if they are unskilled."
"Because our work involves buildings like Horyu-ji that are meant to last for a thousand years—"

It is human nature to want to achieve results quickly in everything.
However, perhaps we are not actually expected to produce results quickly.
Rather, there may be many cases where something genuine, like Horyu-ji, is required, even if it takes some time.

There is no such thing as an instant solution on a farm.
You sow seeds, apply fertilizer, water them, support their growth, and then harvest.
In other words, you can never harvest without sowing seeds.
Furthermore, no matter how hard you try, there is a possibility that you may not be able to harvest due to force majeure, such as a typhoon.
This "Law of the Farm," which states that you can only harvest what you have sown, is, in a sense, a fundamental principle that exists as a process for human growth or success.

Of course, someone who is both dexterous and spares no effort should be the strongest.
However, it is also true that because they are dexterous, they are often unable to be patient.

Effort does not always guarantee a reward.
However, there is no reward without effort.
Even if you do not know when the results will appear, there must be value in continuing to make an effort without ever compromising.

My mentor in junior high school once told me—
"Because you are clumsy, it takes you time to do things that others can do easily."
"But even so, you keep working at it without giving up, don't you?"
"For you, being clumsy is a talent."
"It's good that you're clumsy."

...I was saved by that final remark, "It's good that you're clumsy."