Sunday, December 21, 2008

not so amazing

Have you ever experienced something like that?

When you can do something that most people think is amazing, watching other people do it is really not amazing. Sitting there in a crowd, while everyone else around me is amazed at the still rings performance that is going on, I wish that I could be amazed. I wish I could applaud whole-heartedly. But all I can really think is "I could have done it better." I wish I could just be proud of the kid for giving it his best shot. But 'amazing' -- and even 'hard' -- is so relative. For me, most gymnastic maneuvers are not too hard. Even things that I can't do personally I've seen done by friends that I'd worked out with since we were tiny. I understand the moves, even if can't do them. I think it's really the mystery factor that explains the difference in perception. If you ca do three digit multiplication in your head before I can snap, well, that's amazing. I know how to do three digit multiplication, and I can probably do it in my head, but it's incomprehensible to me that someone might be able to multiply that quickly. It's mysterious. There must be some trick to it.

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