Not everyone gets discovered. Not everyone gets the opportunity to make a name for themselves, prove their worth, leave their mark.
Somewhere on this planet there may well be a person, male or female, with a singing voice better than any you've ever heard. That person sings in the shower, or out in the fields, or walking along a dirt road, and anyone fortunate enough to hear it is struck by that voice, intensely.
But the possessor of that voice isn't even aware of just how good it is. They just like to sing.
Potentially, the world's greatest writer may not actually know how to write. In his or her mind they construct incredible tales of adventure or maybe develop revolutionary philosophical insights, but unlike the fortunate who can read this, they were never privileged with an education. They can speak a language, but they cannot read it or write it down.
While the world's literacy rate is at an all-time high, there are still countries where it's less than half.
The possibility exists that there are genius engineers, mathematicians, economists, physicists, etc., sitting around in small villages pondering the nature of fire or time, and without the benefit of a modern, science-based education, have worked out the mechanics of nature.
This is even more probable due to the fact the world's numeracy rate is much worse than the literacy rate.
There may be incredibly talented actors, artists, poets, comedians - whatever - toiling away in fields they are competent enough to make a living in, but whatever the vocation is, it's really not their calling - but they don't know that and never will know that.
On occasion I imagine there are people who discover later in life what it is they are really good at, but by then they feel it's too late, I'm doing what I'm doing and that's that.
Sometimes, of course, people do stumble across their true calling later in life, and act on it, are able to take advantage of it - for their own or the greater good. Those are the ones we label late bloomers.
Grandma Moses is the oft-cited example of the late bloomer, as she didn't turn to painting until she was in her '70's. There are numerous others - born into slavery, Bill Traylor didn't start drawing until the late 1930's, when he was in his '80's.
There are quite a few actors and businessmen who didn't get started until they were 40 or older. Alan Rickman and Danny Aiello are well-known examples, and so are Ray Kroc and Colonel Sanders.
However, those are huge exceptions. The unpublished novelist, whether it's a work of staggering genius or not, is far more common. Stage fright or fear of embarrassment/rejection has no doubt kept some very talented folks off the stage and out of the limelight.
And of course there is always the case of talent or ability not being developed simply because the person in question just didn't push themselves hard enough. We encounter a lot of stories of talented people who earned their success through dint of hard work, perseverance, and a touch of luck, but I imagine there are perhaps millions who were missing one of those crucial elements on the Venn Diagram of success and spent their lives making car parts or working behind a checkout counter.
It's mind-numbing to consider that the person who could have been the world's greatest surgeon may have never been offered the opportunity to pursue medical school, and subsequently is running a mobile home park in Stockton.
And somewhere out there could be the single best maker of omelets, maybe programming a computer, completely unaware that they have a gift that people would line up around the block to sample.
Nope, not everyone is doing what they might be best at, or what they truly have a passion for.
It's even possible that somewhere out there is the world's best traffic engineer. This person knows how to design streets and highways for optimal traffic flow, properly spacing onramps and exits to limit bottlenecks, knows how to regulate stops and starts at intersections, synchronizing traffic lights or what have you, to minimize idling time and thereby reduce fuel consumption.
Can you imagine? This person, this perfect traffic engineer, he or she drives around all day mentally improving the traffic situation in the city inwhich they live - "Wow, why did they not use a cloverleaf there? Hmmm, building an onramp that intersects with this exit lane was foolish - why didn't they build the onramp 6 blocks further back?"
Unfortunately, that gifted traffic engineer is probably working as a window washer or a stock analyst - completely missed their true calling.
Oh how I wish that particular person had somehow been guided to not only becoming the best traffic engineer that ever lived, but that he or she lived and worked right here in Denver.
Because the people programming stoplights and building highways in this city, those people may well be better off serving the world as hotel clerks or busboys.
It's rather obvious that traffic engineering is not their strong suit. Not even close.
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