The Sky Under the Sea

It sucks when your whole life everyone tell you that you are special then you reach a certain situation where you are just the same as or even worse than everyone else. I had completely blocked this episode from my mind for a great portion of my life.  

I was in girl scouts, and the lady that was in charge of something or somewhat said I was very creative and talented and all that stupid shtuff that makes kids feel special and more confident in themselves. She had suggested me to this art club downtown called Creative Kids, I think. “A place where you can show how talented and creative you are,” she went on and on.  

So I went to the place and it was pretty cool with computers and stuff, but they said I couldn’t use the computers until I perfected the penmanship in traditional art. They said using the computers was like a level five achievement and I had to pass the other stuff first. They sat me facing the other way from the computers and they placed a statuette of a hippopotamus in front of me. “Draw it,” they said. Ok yeah I could do that, I thought. Nope. I did the best I could I really did, and the lady said it was wrong; which it was but I was like six, oh my god did they really expect a six year old to paint a perfect picture? I guess they did if that child was recommended by someone who sees “extraordinary kids” all the time. It looked like an anorexic elephant. The lady pointed out all the wrong things about it and every comment was like an arrow shot at my limbs, enough to hurt but not enough to make the next hurt any less. 

I ran out of there crying like the six year old that I was. My daddy came after me and he comforted me and he recited something like, “practice makes perfect,” but not so cliché and a lot more long winded. I really did want to be an artist, from even before that age. That episode made me abandon that dream for a long time. 

Eventually I forgot about that traumatic event and I came back to drawing and all that artsy stuff. Then in middle school when I had access to computers I learned to draw on them, it came so much easier to me than traditional art. I found I had other talents too, like fixing clothes and playing music. I’m also great at math.  

Your past events don’t define you, not one situation can define you, and everything happens for a reason. I’m still not great at traditional but digital art and music are what I’m bestat. I’m still an artist and I wouldn’t trade these talents for anything else in the world.