Plastics - Charlie Blondell

"Everyone has a gift." I was about 10 years old. My grandfather and I were sitting together, next to the fire in our log cabin in the Smokeys. It was warm, and I was exhausted, so I was content to stay, indulging in the wise words and tales of my Grandaddy.
He repeated it again. "There is not a single person in the world who does not have a unique, God-given talent. God gave me my hands. I can build anything." First thing that came to mind were my feet (I was a soccer player). God gave me my feet to be a great soccer player, I thought to myself. "Always remember that, and you will not regret it."
I know that I didn't fully grasp the idea of he was trying to get across at the time. He didn't mean for me to select a random body part and thank the lord for it. My grandad wanted me to actually ponder the thought of what a gift really is, and why it is one.
For some, it could be their hands. Not their actual palms and fingers, but what these tools can accomplish, may that be a sport, a craft, a piece of artwork. They could be ones feet, for the long journeys a cross-country runner endures or for carrying the bodies of courageous troops in the Middle East. A gift can also be someone's mind, for configuring the new framework of the new cellphone or deriving an impossible physics equation (thank you, Mrs. Gill). It could be one's heart, their focus to help others, to make the world a better place.
True gifts cannot be bought or sold. They cannot be returned, exchanged, or placed under store credit. They are individual, personable. They can be used to help, but also used to hurt. They are gifts because of how others see them, as something desirable, productive. They are special.
Everyone you will ever meet knows something you do not. They are better than you at something. A gift, maybe even some gifts they have may contradict yours, but cannot, WILL not outweigh them. I believe everyone has something to offer. They've just got to figure what that may be, and HOW they will use it.