Don’t you hate those bumper stickers that read something like “My Labrador retriever is smarter than your honor student”?

Although I am most definitely a cat person, I have nothing against Labrador retrievers. But just when did brains and academic achievement become something worthy of ridicule?

Why is it okay to plaster news everywhere about someone’s exploits in sports but it’s considered unseemly to brag about academic achievement?

Maybe the bumper sticker is supposed to be funny. Maybe.

Everyone has gifts and talents. Whether it’s pitching no-hitters or baking cookies, woodworking or hitting high C’s, making friends or making straight A’s, your talents point the way to your future.

Own your talents. Nurture them. Share them.

Which brings me to Suproteem Sarkar. I read about this 17-year-old student in the Philadelphia Inquirer recently. He is definitely someone who embraces his talents. All of them.

Sarkar studied fencing and classical piano before he began kindergarten. He’s a reporter for his Conestoga High School (Berwyn, PA) newspaper and a member of 45Words. This national, student-run organization “support(s) free speech for students . . . and help(s) students fight censorship.”

In his spare time, Sarkar coauthored two scientific papers on cancer treatments, organized a science club, and raised money for the Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania cancer center.

Wow. When I read about young people like Sarkar, I am filled with hope for the future.

“How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in’t!”
—William Shakespeare, The Tempest

What are your talents? What is holding you back from sharing them with the world?