On The Values of Talent and Effort

 This post is going to be a combination of three things. Commentary about a game I played, some history of professional wrestling, and what the Bible says about proper effort. As strange a combination as it sounds, the first two will be relevant to the third.

To start things off, when it comes to game series, I'v always been a longtime fan of the Dragon Quest series. It's a turn-based series that has always pleased me due to the fact it's remained charmingly old school even as technology and other games have done new and exciting things. The last game in the mainline series I enjoyed was the PC version of DQXI S, which was a port based on the added content from the Switch port. That game was super long and rewarding, and I rather warmly appreciated how the developers bent every effort to use their talent to make something amazing.

More recently, I was intensely and bitterly disappointed when I played Infinity Strash Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai.

Infinity Strash was a video game adaptation of a spinoff anime based on the Dragon Quest video game franchise that has always commanded fan respect, and I hoped it would be done justice in video game format. To my horror, despite the billing as an action RPG, it was an execrable waste of time that was a massive wall of badly summarized scenes from the anime interspersed at rare intervals with gameplay right out of an amateur first Unity or Unreal engine asset flip project. The developers demand over 60 USD for what amounted to a lazy visual novel in disguise with some terrible mobile game style arena battling tacked on. Neither the story or gameplay showed a genuine display of talent and effort, and I was quite grateful (since I got it through Steam) that they were gracious enough to refund my purchase.

Before I continue, my disappointment was at the absolute inattention and contempt towards the use of the talent of the developers to show they wanted to invest their time and money into rewarding me for spending my own. What I got was worthy of contempt instead.

Now, let me shift gears and detail an instance in being entertained I got far more than my money's worth, even when the parties involved need not have tried too hard to gain my interest.

I used to follow professional wrestling in the late 90s and early 2000s. It's not something I particularly care for these days, but there was a time I was an avid fan because the stuff the wrestlers did to entertain was just THAT good. When it comes to the 1998 World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment after legal troubles with the World Wildlife Fund over the initials), I remember some of the most exciting wrestling ever, the crown jewel being the both famous and infamous "Hell in a Cell" (a type of wrestling match in which the parties wrestle on and in the steel chain-link cage over the ring, the winner being the one to pin the other and leave via the door on the inside of the ring usually) match with Mankind (IRL named Mick Foley) and the Undertaker (IRL named Mark William Calaway). Foley admitted in his first autobiography "Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks" that he was afraid the 1998 match was going to be horrible.

In 1997's version of "Hell in a Cell", starred two men in their prime. Undertaker and the wrestler Shawn Micheals. That match was considered excellent because Michaels did everything he could sell the Undertaker (a 6-foot-tall wrestling veteran) as an unstoppable force of nature and the Undertaker was able to make the more agile Michaels look great in turn. Foley was afraid in 1998 he and Undertaker could not recreate that magic, mostly because the Undertaker had a broken ankle and Foley was nowhere near as athletic as Micheals was, not to mention over 250 pounds, at least 100 pounds heavier.

So, in an effort to make sure the match would be considered good, Foley and Taker decided to take some risks, albeit with reluctance as it was later explained.

When the match began, Foley's character made it into the arena, he climbed up the cage to meet him, tossing a steel chair atop the cage as well for use as a weapon, since the match had no rules against weaponized objects. Undertaker's character came out next and also climbed the cage to begin the match. Soon after he reached the top, the match started with a series of punches, deliberately moving Foley to the edge.

The first immortal moment of the night came when Undertaker grabbed Foley and tossed him off the cage. sending a 250 lbs plus man over 22 feet from the top of the cage through the Spanish announcer's table, which broke on impact, leaving Foley taking a fall on solid concrete. This resulted in time stopping for everyone as Foley lay motionless to the point everyone legitimately assumed he died and nigh everyone broke character, terrified for his well-being. He managed to awaken while being moved out on a stretcher and miraculously made his way up the cage again, where Undertaker still was. The second nightmare of the night happened when a chokeslam by Taker after a brief scuffle on the second time on the top of the cage caused the steel cage to rupture (an event that was not planned, the first toss off the cage was), causing Foley to crash on his back into the ring. Worse, the steel chair he had tossed up earlier followed, smashing Foley in the face, which caused one of his teeth to dislodge.

Amazingly, he managed to recover again, and after a brief incident in which an attempt to drop Undertaker onto thumbtacks backfired, Foley was pinned and the match ended.

It's worth noting the risks taken to ensure people who paid to watch were entertained were considered far in excess. Vince McMahon, then owner (now retired) was grateful for the sheer amount of effort exerted but begged Foley to never go that far again. Everyone involved was worried the high bar of drama and violence in that match would inspire copycats and measures were implemented to prevent it. Regardless, at the time, it became an iconic moment of two men working against limitations to deliver quality entertainment, at the risk of their health and lives. In short, while later agreed it should not have gone that far, that was when all the parties involved took risks and exerted all sorts of effort to make sure their talents would be rewarded with something special.

Now that I've said the first two parts, let me get to the part the Bible comes into play. The credo of God to all Christians is that they should be proud of their work and use their talents to the utmost of their ability. Jesus explained this in the Parable of the Talents, and before I get to that, a bit of explanation on the origin of the word.

A talent was then a dry measure of weight, about 800 pounds, and typically precious metal was issued in talents, such as gold, as in the parable. So talents were valuable as a result. It equaled about 20 years of wages for a common worker, so not a small monetary sum either. It's because of the parable they became a loanword for abilities and skills.

Here is the parable in question:

The Parable of the Talents

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’



As this parable clearly demonstrates, if you have talents (of the classical or modern kind), you really need to put them to work. If you have a lot, then shoot for even more. If you only have some, still try your best. The worst you can do is not even try to do anything thus producing a miserable result.

In the game example I brought up, the developers did not even bother to try. The result was something worthy of contempt, a slap to the face of those who expected better, and worthless in both the short and long-term as anything of value.

In the wrestling example I brought up, sure, they went far beyond what they had to make it entertaining, but many (and I agree) would agree it was too far. But it still shows moral integrity to one's craft that they still, despite limitations, tried to make some quality entertainment despite not having as much at their disposal, and you still have to applaud the effort as laudable.

My point is basically, when it comes to one's talents, I and the Bible encourage people to do their best. Not only will you have done something you can be proud of, but other people can be proud of your efforts. Even if you are not Christian, the long-term benefit should still be obvious: you will have left a good example for others to follow so that others will likewise leave effort clearly marked by use of their talents, and in doing so leave a net positive on the world.

For those who are Christian, well, you please not only yourself for having basic integrity, you please God, who wants to see you do the best with what He's given you.