Gifted Jazz

Bumped into a Gifted group on Facebook and it got me really excited, and reflective and defensive all at the same time. Here I was scrolling down the pages, reading the words of other gifted individuals, most probably more than myself and I couldn’t help but throw my up my defense when I read the words :
“I like to think that being called "gifted" means you went to a gifted school.”
Without even thinking I must have written a five hundred word essay telling this ignorant mind off and I wasted no time posting it. How dare he imply that the only gifted are those put in institutions that recognize such individuals? Should that mean that Einstein and Beethoven were all not gifted because they, too, never went to a so called ‘gifted’ school?
It must be almost absurd to still feel the tinge of anger only now ebbing in my soul, three days later! Still, I just want to get it out there that such biased statements, unashamedly put forward are meant only for the Non-Gifted who can only try to understand the complex and unprecedented nature of a gifted person.
Should I break it down for you, Her Royal Naughty-nez Style?
First thing that popped into my mind was that this self-proclaimed so called ‘gifted’ person shat (past tense of shit, lol) in his own pants the day he publically stated who was and wasn’t a gifted person. Who even says such things? So would that mean that a whole bunch of us are not gifted simply because we didn’t wake up every morning, get dressed and walk into the doors of a building built to accommodate other people like us?
I know for one thing, that as a result of this ‘gift’ we tend to think very highly of ourselves. We think we’re superior to everybody and everything around us, including other gifted beings. Does that mean, therefore, that we all have the right to thrust our chest outs and trample over other people’s egos as we boast our elevated intelligence?
Save for lack of human emotion and humility, where do people get off on this kind of thick arrogance?
I sat back in my swing chair and thought about what was whizzing through my mind for a second. It’s not unusual for me to get all heated about something without thinking things through- and before I got off on telling this person on the web what I thought, I had to make sure I at least had reason to be offended. I thought about people in other countries around the world, other gifted people who were not recognized in their uniqueness. Apart from the fact that you can boast of your academic journey in an institution full of beings uniquely different, what else was there? Nothing.
Personally, I think the truly gifted person is one that sticks it out with the non-gifted. One that is so well masked that to the world; they are just another pupil sitting in their classroom with nothing more to offer. I believe that, to contain yourself in a shell so much smaller than your own, to have that kind of discipline, tolerance and all together meekness yet still believe in yourself enough to develop your gift is ultimate giftedness.
Just because you’re a little different from the person seated next to you in the bus, doesn’t mean that he/she should tremble at your feet every time you open your mouth to say something. Sometimes being gifted isn’t all about you; sometimes it’s about what you have to offer the next person besides you.
One thing is for sure though, just because you started playing Piano when you were six doesn’t mean I’ll appreciate you more than another person who spent their whole lives practicing and studying it. Who knows, I could have started playing it when I was five! We gifted people have to know that we have a co-existing relationship with the non-gifted. Who will appreciate our talent if we don’t?
Keep it in mind that: No man is an island, hmmm?