Imagine how many children have had opportunities provided, but lacked the interest or desire to stick with it. Yet a kid somewhere else, maybe right down the street or in another town, would've stuck with it and become the next world champion golfer or chess player or pool player or whatever...but the opportunity wasn't available or provided.
This reminds me of something from many years ago. Everybody in my family played an instrument as my parents loved music. Being the youngest sibling, kindergarten aged, I joked that I wanted to play the piccolo because (and this is the only reason I wanted to play it) I thought a piccolo was LARGER than a piano and my parents would never let me get one. How ironic! They talked to the band director, Mr. Cass, who gave music lessons in your home, and he suggested I start out with a flute, which was easier to play. I knew what a flute was and figured, "Whatever, I'm in this far I might just as well learn to play it."
So I played the flute with various teachers over the years, including one lady from the NJ State Symphony who got me in to watch a practice session with the legendary Jean Pierre Rampal. I got pretty good, I guess, by Jr. High standards... played at a wedding, etc, but the problem is that I hit puberty! It wasn't cool to play the flute as a guy so I hung it up by the 10th grade. Funny thing is, of course, nobody who mattered cared one way or the other if I played the flute.
To the point of this post...finally. Mr. Cass had given me my first lessons and really got me interested in learning more. One day I told him I was going to stop the lessons and quit the flute. I'll never forget how he implored me not to give it up. He was a pretty intense guy and I recall him staring me close in the face during a lesson and telling me never, never to give up playing. He said if I give up I'll regret it for a long time. I just remember how intense he was about it and I think he was recognizing that I had achieved a pretty good level at a young age and had a chance to become exceptional. This was back in the 70's before Gladwell talked about 10,000 hours, but he knew it anyway.
I don't think it was ever meant to be for me because I didn't have a burning need to be the best at that instrument. I was finding new interests into my teen years and that was that. Mr. Rampal had nothing to sweat. I wasn't going to take his crown!
I know this is OT but this thread has been inactive for awhile. Pardon the ramblings.