Interesting little thought that arose as I was endlessly "suanning" my sister; who was getting agitated cause I was insisting that she was hard-working. Well, the main source of her agitation was that I was strongly implying that the source of her pretty decent results was the hard work she had put into studying rather than any natural smarts on her part.

And well, it's pretty strange, isn't it. Would you rather be praised for doing something that's under your control; such as working hard is; or for being endowed; "gifted" in a sense at birth? Apparently she thinks it's way cooler to be naturally talented as there's a certain air of effortlessness involved. And of course; there's always the thought that one would be able to surpass all his/her hardworking but not as "gifted" peers by simply putting in the work on top of the talent. Bleh.

Well, after years of mixing with both kinds of people (and in fact, people who fulfill both as well), I guess all I can say is that in the end; it's the results that matter; sad to say. If you're supposedly talented yet you mess up because you didn't put in the work; then well okay; you can go around saying "I would have done better" or "I'm actually better than that" but nobody really cares, right? You deserve it. And if you put in the work but don't have the validation for it...well I'd applaud you for the effort but it's a pity that the world is a cruelly pragmatic place; isn't it :/