Why “GIFTED” is such an insult.

I hate the word TALENT.  It explains nothing.  Talent, if it exists, is a cocktail of so many factors that people explain it away as simply ‘innate’. The idea that anyone is born a successful actor, musician or entrepreneur is ludicrous. It pre-dates science when we couldn’t make educated guesses about what was going.

But we all like a good talent myth.

GIFTED however is a far viler word. People don’t mean anything bad by it, but when someone suggests that you are gifted, what are the literally saying?

Gifted is an insult because it implies it was given to you. Gifts are given, they are not earned. So your abilities were given. You are not gifted actors, you are exceptionally hard working actors that earned every piece of your success. 

Everything you have achieved, you achieved through the sweat of your brow. To call you guys ‘gifted’ is to rob you of your hard work.

Furthermore, unconsciously ‘gifted’ explains why you can do it and someone else can’t – it’s because you’re gifted. It lets them off the hook doesn’t it? If you are gifted and they’re not – it explains why they aren’t successful like you.

Additionally, if you are told that you are gifted, it also makes you feel special, but you should feel special because of what you have achieved, not some intangible and unexplained gift – and the pressure it often places on you. 

No one probably says ‘gifted’ as an intentional insult.  But societies do seem to treat sport and artistic ability like it’s a gift, and ‘Naturally talented’, ‘gifted individuals’, ‘innately talented’.  Beyond genetic advantage, predisposition towards something is a result of a cocktail of historical exposures.

Innate. Bestowed. Given. Gifted. Not earned.

You’ve earned it.