Brianna began to realize how important hope was to a person’s discovery and development of one’s talent. Where did that hope come from? And could the traits of hope be passed on? What Brianna began to discover was that those whose hope led to success often made an effort to show how others acquire hope when all seems to be lost. She was intrigued by hope and talent of one person in particular.
As a young man who never went beyond the 4th grade, his future hopes were minimal: learn a trade and raise a family was the advice of his family. When he was 14 years old, his mother helped him achieve his first hope of developing a talent. He became an apprentice confectioner learning how to make candy. At the age of 19, he created his own candy making business. It was not successful. After learning more about his trade, he started a second candy business. It also failed. He returned home to start another business. This one was a success. His first hope was realized. His talent helped him realize his hope.
The second hope, however, proved even more formidable. He and his wife were not able to have children. While the company was like a family, he wanted more. So he decided to transfer all of his assets in the company to a trust fund to support a school for children without parents. Today, there is a bronze statue of Milton Hershey outside the school that owns the majority shares of the Hershey Company. The statue is of Milton Hershey with an orphan boy in his arms. His second hope was realized. It again was fueled by the talent he had acquired as a young man.
Brianna acknowledged that everyone has hopes. And she thought those hopes may be one of the sparks to discovering talent.
She realized that hopes are not static. What we hope for at age 16 is far different than what we hope for at age 40. When we approach the midpoint of a typical career, our hopes take on a new dimension. They may be reset to other hopes that are more relevant to what we value in life. If our hopes remain unmet, we may need to think about a Plan B in order to achieve them. Our development of talent tends to follow our hopes.
Hopes tend to also evolve from more self-serving to more public-serving, as does our talent. This results from a focus of having — to a focus of being. In many cases, our hopes also become our legacy.
Brianna thought about Milton Hershey’s hopes and talents and how they evolved, yet retained their essence. He grew up in a poor family who didn’t have many hopes, yet Milton Hersey achieved more than anyone could have ever imagined through his talent. Likewise, Henry was helping those in all walks of life have future hopes when their hopes may be just to have money for food and rent.
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“Talent is never static. It’s always growing or dying.”
– Stephen King