Piano Man

Sing us a song, you're the Piano Man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling alright
-Billy Joel

I was talking with a friend of mine today who was annoyed at a sarcastic comment someone made while talking to her and her sister. The woman was admiring some sewing handiwork of the sister's and then looked at my friend and commented, "Well, I guess she got all the talent." My friend was really mad and later called out the woman for her unkind comment. The woman's response was, "I was only joking." The problem? These are all people I work with, and the woman who made the unkind comment was a teacher. And if a student had made the comment, and then tried to say she was "only joking" the student would have been taken to task for being mean, or even bullying. And yet adults do it too. And then wonder where the kids get it from.

My friend at work is amazing. She has some unbelievable talents. She's extremely creative. Just not as visibly so as her sister. She's also a lot more introverted and modest than her sister. You have to get to know her to really see what her talents are. So as I was talking to her about what I saw her talents to be, I remembered Nadine. And I hadn't thought of Nadine in years...

One of the things I have always wanted to know how to do is learn to play the piano. I know how to play the guitar and flute and saxophone. I can pick out a tune one key at a time on the piano, but I have never learned to play. Maybe I should have when we had my sister's piano and my girls were taking lessons, but I always felt I had too much on my plate. Instead, I enjoyed listening to my girls practice. Maybe some day I will take lessons. Maybe I never will. But I have always wanted to.

Years ago, before I was married, I worked at a DAC, a Developmental Achievement Center, where we taught job skills to retarded adults. Supposedly. Mostly, I think it was daycare for these folks. And they were divided up by classrooms according to their functioning level. I had one of the lower groups. Nadine was in a different room; higher functioning than the group I had. She was tiny and thin, and had a sort of beehive hairdo, and wore 70s clothing and scarves in her hair. I heard that she had something like 10 or 12 children although by the time I knew her she looked like she was about 55 or 60.

But Nadine could play the piano. She could listen to a tune once and could sit down and play it. So here's me with a college degree and a skill I don't have. And here's Nadine who is mentally retarded and can do something I can't and have always wanted to learn. And a pretty profound realization.

Everyone has their own talent, skill, niche, claim to fame, abilities, etc. There is no purpose served in acting superior, or high and mighty, or smug. It's maybe a dose of humility, or maybe just learning respect for others. But it's stayed with me. A belief that everyone has something to offer. You just have to be willing to see it.