I used to consider myself an "average guy", you know, do most things pretty much at the same skill level of most people. Although I've never made a list of things that would tend to verify that, it was just a general feeling, lately some things have occurred to me that have shaken my belief in that conclusion. My new hypothesis is that there is no such thing as an "average guy".
There are a lot of people who appear to be "average" but somewhere along the line you discover that some you know have some great hidden abilities which do not show in daily living. I'm not talking about the guy who can bend his fingers back upon his wrist or flap his ears but someone who can sing, play an instrument (often sing and play at the same time), draw or paint, is an excellent gymnast or a great golfer. I have always been able to hum and, until I got false teeth,whistle, but now even those are not certain.
One of my greatest physical flaws has always been that I am not a good "clapper". As enthusiastic as I may become, my claps were barley audible. Recently I attended the graduation of one of my granddaughters from NYU and I clapped furiously and, although I was arms length away from my clapping, I knew no one could hear it because I couldn't. Seems I'm a "mute" clapper. Now, I'm bigger than the "average guy" and I was sitting next to a lady friend who is half my size. To my amazement, when she clapped, I could hear it like gun shots and as though the thousands in the audience were sitting on their hands. You cannot imagine my humiliation to learn not only that my clapping wasn't heard to be appreciated but that clapping by a pair of hands half the size of mine could be heard on stage at the Radio City Music Hall fifty yards away while I could not hear mine an arm length away.
While clapping doesn't seem like a skill someone should be proud of, when you can't do it, even at what you would expect from the "average" person, you tend to give it some respect. So you see, even with all the many achievements of this young lady, the thing I envy most about her is her ability to clap well. Envy is a terrible thing but it is probably what I do better than anyone else, so in that sense, I am not an "average guy".
There are a lot of people who appear to be "average" but somewhere along the line you discover that some you know have some great hidden abilities which do not show in daily living. I'm not talking about the guy who can bend his fingers back upon his wrist or flap his ears but someone who can sing, play an instrument (often sing and play at the same time), draw or paint, is an excellent gymnast or a great golfer. I have always been able to hum and, until I got false teeth,whistle, but now even those are not certain.
One of my greatest physical flaws has always been that I am not a good "clapper". As enthusiastic as I may become, my claps were barley audible. Recently I attended the graduation of one of my granddaughters from NYU and I clapped furiously and, although I was arms length away from my clapping, I knew no one could hear it because I couldn't. Seems I'm a "mute" clapper. Now, I'm bigger than the "average guy" and I was sitting next to a lady friend who is half my size. To my amazement, when she clapped, I could hear it like gun shots and as though the thousands in the audience were sitting on their hands. You cannot imagine my humiliation to learn not only that my clapping wasn't heard to be appreciated but that clapping by a pair of hands half the size of mine could be heard on stage at the Radio City Music Hall fifty yards away while I could not hear mine an arm length away.
While clapping doesn't seem like a skill someone should be proud of, when you can't do it, even at what you would expect from the "average" person, you tend to give it some respect. So you see, even with all the many achievements of this young lady, the thing I envy most about her is her ability to clap well. Envy is a terrible thing but it is probably what I do better than anyone else, so in that sense, I am not an "average guy".
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