A Jack of all trades

…and master of none.

Back when I was first introduced to the phrase, I was given to understand that it carried with it a hint of negativity—that Jack was no good.

As I grew up, I wondered at the All Rounder awards that used to be given to students across classes. So what made them qualify? They too dabbled in many a thing (and mastered none). Yet the ‘All Rounder’ tag had a strange qualifying ring to it, whereas Jack mooned around in a corner under his Dunce’s cap.

Hypocrisy?

Or mere perception?

Two sides of the same coin? The glass half full or half empty?

At least Jack had fun. And painted his canvas with motely colours to complete the bigger picture.

The others ended up striving hard to graduate from hues to shades of the same colour—becoming just a range of RGBs on the wooden palette.

Come to think of it, we classify a certain combination of skillsets as ideal for the perfect job.

Skill sets that follow a set pattern. That have zero tolerance for deviations. For gaps. That cross a threshold value.

And once we’ve got together a bunch of these ‘like minded’ individuals, we pressurize them to think out of the box.

How will they, considering they’ve never taken a stroll out of it, around it, away from it?

And in the process, fret and fume and burn out in the hope of finding the elusive ‘something different’.

While Jack has the last laugh as he continues to blow bubbles in the air, painting a different stroke, whistling a merry tune, living, and not just existing.