Jack of all!

The figure of speech, phrase - 'Jack of all trades, Master of none' is used to say that a person knows many skills but isnt an expert in any one.
I think this was relevant in the past. But nowadays even if you aint a master of anything is ok, you have to be Jack of all! Gaining expertise in something is an option, but knowing it all is a must.
The knowlegde shouldnt be superficial though.

Today the kids have to be passionately curious, they may have no special talent! The parents too want their kids to push themselves. Kids must swim, dance, sing, study, play a sport....exhaustive hmm!!

We can divide the Jacks as Generalists and the Masters as Specialists. Now, the specialists have to be on a narrow path, with niche focus on a special talent, and they get locked into it. Generalists on the other hand, will rather have it flexible - moving up, down, left, right, as and when required. Masters - the specialists, have to put in concentrated efforts behind one thing to keep going, advancing. Generalists have no such ladder to keep climbing. They can switch their course. But these Jacks - have to be anything, they need to be, at any time.

I am not getting into a debate - whether 'Masters' are successful or 'Jacks', or being a specialist is better than a generalist. It depends on each one's opinion & view.

In Arabic they have a similar saying - 'The one who knows two trades is a liar', in Moroccon they say - 'The one who knows seven trades but has no wealth', in Cantonese they say- 'Equipped with knives all over, yet none is sharp', in Greek they say- 'A man of many crafts and a deserted home'!
All these phrases are formed from experiences of each culture and region.

But what i would say is - with new age we have to change, go with the flow, expert or not atleast learn new skills, update ourselves. Theres nothing wrong in being a Jack and it would be glorious to be a Master too!


                                                                                                       JUI.

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