There’s a scene in the movie Amadeus where a fictionalized Salieri, a court composer, recognizes the genius of Mozart’s work. Salieri’s epiphany is that, while God speaks through a lewd Mozart, God has granted Salieri a comparatively diminished talent despite his piety. Salieri’s maniacal envy drives the brilliant movie’s action leading to Mozart’s death.
We are all Salieri. Do you know people whose gifts are so superior that they seem unharnessed to effort or practice? I know people who can probably read Atlas Shrugged in the time it takes me to read Sports Illustrated. I remember a college friend who might match “inconsequentially” to my “cone” in a game of Boggle. Murder seems such an extreme reaction to being bested. :–) How about, instead, rooting these people on – cheering for their brilliance and success. Happiness isn’t zero sum.
I got to know and work with Dan Egan in the world of sailing, but he is a Mozart (and pioneer) of extreme skiing. He has skied in 12 Warren Miller Films and was named one of the “Top Skiers of All Time” by Powder Magazine. Despite his athletic gifts and success as an award-winning producer, Dan is beautifully grounded. Perhaps it was his experience in 1990, on an international expedition to climb and ski Mt. Elbrus in Russia. Dan was trapped for 36 hours in a raging storm above 18,000 feet and 33 people from the expedition never made it off the mountain. Dan still rocks ski tours around the world, produces exciting video and is quite serious about his middle-school coed soccer coaching gig.
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Connect to Dan Egan
Extreme Sports Blog in the Boston Globe (bragging alert, Dan says “Two Things” inspired him to start his blog and, of course, he is immediately picked by the Boston Globe!)
Extreme Faith Podcast (a religious/spiritual podcast that this skeptic loves!)
