Sharing the light

I did a good deed today. I was working with my Scientific Writing students on revising bad sentences. They were tasked with rewording 20 awful blobs into tight, coherent, and (if possible) elegant units of communication. One student in particular was really quick at figuring out what the sentence actually said, and changing it for the better. While her solutions did not have the occasional flair of others' work, they were consistently clean and solid. I complemented her on her efforts, and told her she is a natural editor. You should have seen her! Her face lit up, and her whole body language changed in an instant. This transformation was so quick and so significant, it caught me completely off guard.

I must remember to do this every chance I get. So many people don't know what they are good at. Even worse, many people think they are not good at anything at all, and it kills them a little every day.

Then we have those buffoons who delude themselves into thinking they are amazing at everything. Apparently they all end up in politics. That's a blip for another day.