Word of the Day

I'm not a genuis. I test well, but when I think about everything I don't know--well, there's a lot of it. I KNOW a lot of smart people. Jeb is the guy that knows stuff both useful and not. When we were in High School, we were on the academic team together, and in college I would call him at 3 a.m. asking how to spell a word for a paper I was writing. He has a PhD and an amazing vocabulary. I have neither, so maybe that's why I'm always coming across words that just rock my world. My biz partner is on the board of directors for a fledgling non-profit artist colony that's forming in Dallas. The board president is a local journalist and in her bio she had a line with a word that just hit me like that. "...she aspires to inspire English majors and dilettantes everywhere."

I had to look it up.

dil‧et‧tante:

1.	a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement, esp. in a desultory or superficial way; dabbler.

2.	a lover of an art or science, esp. of a fine art.

It's a great word! It may sound a bit superficial to say "dabble," but... isn't that still a great thing? I look around at people and wonder how many of them that I pass on the street might be dilettantes?

The world is so fast and chaotic, it seems like no one has time to indulge in art or science purely for amusement. Maybe it's a change in our definition of amusement... and XBox and TiVo are arts now? Is the Renaissance Man a lost concept? Maybe my perception is skewed because of my profession, but then I also wonder how many kids actually still watch NOVA on Sunday afternoons? and how many teenagers may meditate with the pen or sketch in a moleskin. I think the internet is great... but I wonder about the dilettantes in the next generation?