A Tale of Hard Work and Talent:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!
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Kakashi was genius. Might Guy was hard work.
Guy spent his whole life training himself into the ground, forsaking everything and anything life had to offer, just to surpass his eternal rival, Kakashi. In that same period, Kakashi was living a comparatively languid life.
While Kakashi was reading in leisure while contemplating his existence in life, Guy was training. Where Kakashi was meandering through Konoha, Guy was running around Konoha. Sure, Kakashi did the usual training session here and there, however, Guy's weekly training schedule surpassed Kakashi's monthly schedule. Yet, they were fairly equals!
How did Kakashi make up that gap between the two? Through talent!
To say that all men are created equal would be a misstatement. No man is created equal to the other. Each person is created with his share of the talent, which varies highly among individuals. The one blessed with greater talent has an almost insurmountable advantage over the less talented. The only way to make up for that difference in talents is hard work.
The talented are privileged. The minimum effort will get anything done for them. Hence, they refrain from hard work, often being found slacking in their duties. Because they know what others do not. They see things differently. They know what they are capable of.
The talented achieve more in life. That is because anything that they do takes minimum effort. Hence, they can invest the remaining time accomplishing other tasks and goals. The time that it takes for the hard worker to complete 100% of task A, the talented has completed 95% of task A, 30% of task B, and 10% of task C. The remaining 5% of task A requires hard work, which the talented is unwilling to invest, being satisfied with the multiple tasks that he has achieved in the given time instead.
However, in that one common task, the talented can never compare to the hard worker. The hard worker always wins. Be it by narrow margins, but win he does.
In theory, there should be no real comparison between the hard workers and the talented. The talented is supposed to win. However, the human element is the flaw that makes the talented lose.
Think of the standard kunai used by the academy students. Compare that to the A- Grade tools used by the ANBU. In 100% of the battle of tools, the latter will win. However, what about a kunai-tossing competition between an academy student and an ANBU? IN 99.99% times, the ANBU will decimate the opposition, yet that .01% cannot be discounted. That almost inconsequential little difference is the human element.
Masses always sympathize with the hard worker, and they want the hard worker to win, because they can relate to the hard worker. In his struggle against the talented, they identify their own weakness. Their own lack of talent. However, the masses themselves cannot be compared to the hard worker. These masses who lack both talent and hard work are the lowest of the lows. That is because they are unwilling to change. They are unwilling to improve. They are unwilling to evolve.
The question beckons: who has done better in life- The hard worker or the talented? The answer is simplest; whoever has enjoyed his life while living it to the fullest.
Every human will die. All talent will die. All hard work will die. Every human must die.
To judge the life based on the ability or the hard work one put into his work would be a poor measure. It is the amount of satisfaction that was derived from ones work that ultimately matters most.
Kakashi, the talent, lived a life full of regret and sorrows.
Guy, the hard worker, lived his life doing what he loved best.
Both of them were able to showcase the epitome of their abilities for all to see, and neither was far from the other in terms of raw power, however, Guy stole the march on Kakashi in the way he lived his life.
Hence, in this particular battle of talent vs hard work, which is comparable to the epic conflicts like light vs darkness, hard work trumped talent once more.
However, the war is yet to be concluded…
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A/N: Please rate and review!