And Still We Rise - Assignment 3

Miesha: "My Talent is Perserverance"
*What is your talent/gift?
*What are you going to do with it?
*Compare your talent with Miesha's

Literary Connection: Jesus' Parable of the Talents NOTE: In ancient times, a measure of gold was called a talent: There once was a master and he had three servants. He goes on a trip and gives gold to each of them. The first one spends it having a good time, the second one purchases a rug in the market place. The third one goes out into the fields and buries it. When the master returns, he asks them what they did with the gold. The first one says, "I spent it and had a great time with my friends." The master says, "Very Good." The second one says, "I purchased a rug in the marketplace." The master says, "Very Good." The third one says, "Master, you will be most proud of me! I buried it in the fields and here it is!" The master beats him and send him out of his house.

What do you think is Jesus' point? What lesson does he teach and how does it connect to you and Miesha? How does this story work on more than one level?


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A talent can be anything, from being great at soccer to being a public speaker. It could even be something completely different.  In Miesha's case, her talent is perseverence.  Compared to what others consider their talents to be, this isn't the normal thing to be talented in.  But that's what makes it unique.  As for me, I consider my talent to be compassion.

There are times in life where people need compassion in their lives.  It could be during a hard time in their life where hardships seem never-ending, or when they just need someone to confide in.  I'm usually the person they would confide in, no matter what the situation is.  I would listen to their problems and help them whenever they needed it.  I would bend over backward for the people I cared most about, and I wouldn't mind doing it.  There were cases when I would be having a hard time in my own life, but if I saw my friend hurting to the point of crying, I wouldn't put much importance on my problems.  They weren't as important as what my friend was going through, even if that was true or not.


I would use my talent the same way I have always used it: to help others in times of need.  It wouldn't be good if I kept my talent to myself, because it wouldn't be a useful talent by itself.  I would be the person my friends needed when they need a shoulder to cry on, or another person to talk to when they feel like their world is crashing down.  I would always be there for them, no matter what.



My talent is similar to Miesha's in a certain way, but it is also different.  It is similar in that both are more characteristics than physical talents.  They are both things that most people would take for granted or not put as much importance into it.  They are different because they deal with different situations.  Miesha's talent deals mostly with being able to deal with every hardship that she has to face and making sure that she will survive throughout it all.  My talent deals more with the lives of others and making sure that they will be able to make it through their hardships.


I think in the literary connection, Jesus's point is that most people only care about immediate gratification and when there are those that delay gratification for something better, they are the ones that get shot down by others.  The ones that delay gratification are those that are high achievers and that care about the future and work hard to achieve their goals.  In this case, the one that buried his talent is the one that will persevere the longest compared to the other two.  It connects to me and Miesha because we both are focused on the far future rather than the immediate satisfaction of getting what we want and we will wait for our goals to be reached and not rush or anything like that.  This story works on multiple levels in that it has an underlying meaning and an obvious meaning.  It's obvious meaning is that most people only care about material things when they should be thinking about other more important things in life.  The two servants and the master only did things that had some material value to it or didn't require any hard work at all.  The last servant worked hard to bury his talent and he was beaten for it.  The underlying meaning is that it is better to delay gratification rather than seek immediate satisfaction.  If you only think about what you will get in the near future, you won't think about the consequences that could happen later on in the future because of the decision you made.