When we were living in Wilmore, Kentucky, I worked on a horse farm and handled some sons of Secretariat. He was an amazing horse to say the least. I was watching footage of him racing in the Preakness, and he was running past the other horses like they were standing still. Secretariat could literally burn up the race track, but that’s what a thoroughbred is built for. They are built to literally run for a mile or so. No stops or swift turns just run in a slightly curved line around the track.

A quarter horse, which most cowboys ride, is built for a short burst of speed like a quarter mile but they are also bred to stop and turn on a dime when working cattle. A good quarter horse can plant his back feet and literally lift his front feet off the ground and pivot right or left as needed. One place I worked had a number of horses with most of then broke and rideable. One was super fast. He could get you upon a cow so fast you weren’t ready when you got there. He was amazing.

I’ve been watching Caitlin Clark play basketball, and she is something else. She can shoot three-pointers from way outside the three-point circle with a pretty good success percentage. But she can also dribble with the best of them and pass and just showcase her basketball skills. Other women have many of these skills but in varying degrees. Some are good at shooting, and some at passing, while others are skilled at dribbling. This is how they were created, and practice honed these skills.

Back in high school, most everyone went out for whatever was the sport at the time. There were 52 students in the whole four grades in high school so everyone seemed to participate. I remember a friend of mine’s goal was to run a five-minute mile. But at one particular track meet they had invited an awesome miler to run a demo mile run. He blew around the track in something like four minutes and 16 seconds. It was awesome. He was designed to run, and I definitely wasn’t. Most people aren’t designed to run miles in that amount of time.

I took a blacksmithing class up close to Potosi ran by Tom Clark. Tom was amazing. He could lay a wooden matchstick down on a log and split the matchstick lengthwise by swinging a double-bit axe. Really good blacksmith. I watched him make square nails one after the next, with each under one minute. Tom was born with a special talent. I can make square handmade nails, but mine take longer.

I fully believe each of us is created with a particular set of skills that is most likely totally different than anyone else. We are created individually, totally unique. Some, like Albert Einstein, were created with a higher IQ, so Einstein used his mental abilities to further the theory of relativity as well as other principles. Bill Gates, along with a couple others, came up with the Microsoft operating system. Elon Musk has developed a reusable rocket system that works pretty darn good. He also developed a whole line of electric vehicles.

Some, I believe, are created to be good fathers and mothers who can raise children with talents and abilities or possibly raise children who will be good parents themselves. Some are created to be good cooks or chefs. They have the ability to conjure up tasty dishes. Some were created to be good teachers. I’ll never forget my kindergarten teacher. She is on my Facebook page and we converse almost daily. My Dad was born to be a rancher and Dad and husband, just as my Mom was born to be a Mother and rancher’s wife.

You were created special, a one of a kind. Never think of yourself as just an ordinary child or teen or adult or even an old foggy like me.

You are special!

Phillips began life as a cowboy, then husband and father, carpenter, a minister, gardener and writer. He may be reached at phillipsrb@hotmail.com.