There is no such thing as a genius.
We all have in us great ability. There is only 2 things most people have taken away from them by the system as it is currently designed. 1) belief you can do anything and learn anything and that you are truly gifted. 2) being incredibly stubborn. When someone tells you that you could not do or learn something, take it as a personal challenge to prove them wrong.
People limit themselves with doubt, insecurity, and low expectations. These are further reinforced by the current society that expects us to fall into a narrow range of thoughts and actions to fit in. School is designed no to teach us that was have unlimited potential to achieve but to pound blind obedience to the system into our heads. It uses basic arcane systems of Pavlovian training in combination with Skinner's Operant conditioning to mold us into good automatons. They pit us against each other, and put the best and brightest (those that can regurgitate the desired material, and exhibit the best conditioning) on the “honor roll” and give them the best grades, making others feel less worthy and capable. This is not on accident. Grades are meaningless in the real world, so is the ability memorize tons of useless crap, but it is good at killing the imagination and potential of the servile population. This of course is the true goal.
They teach us to worship unimportant events, ideas and objects that will never help us grow as individuals and keep us mentally retarded (in a permanent adolescent mindset). We are actively discouraged from learning to think critically and questioning things, as these are ways that we grow into higher levels of maturity and make us much harder to control. Materialism, sports, religion, music, movies, etc. are only there to distract and divide us, and it works very well. The only way for a very small number of people to control an extremely large number of people is to keep them divided and unable to think for themselves. If you look around the world with a critical eye this is clearly the case.
I was lucky enough to have a mother that had unlimited faith in me and this belief transferred to me. I am also extremely stubborn which has allowed me to eventually break free from the false reality created for me, and allowed me to have confidence to achieve anything. If you think your not smart enough or skilled enough then you are not. The only limit of what you can do is you. Another name for stubbornness could be will. Don’t limit yourself to some artificially retarded state, challenge yourself, and be stubborn (willful) and you will amaze yourself at what you can accomplish. Don’t buy into their limitation and their attempts at controlling you. Don’t chase things you don’t need because everyone else has it or some commercial convinced you that you can’t live without it. Make goals and have the will to achieve them, no matter how many failures or obstacles get put in your way will yourself to your goal, and if those goals are honest and true you will meet them and live a happy life. If they are superficial and meaningless you will probably achieve them as well, but not be fulfilled.
Thanks for reading :)
Oz
While the general point of your article is important, it is also important that people do not in fact have unlimited potential. The scientific liturature makes it very clear that individuals are born with different physical and intelectual potential that is governed by genetics.
I am not claiming that people have unlimited potential, I am claiming that genius is subjective and that everyone has the potential (if given the chance) to do extraordinary (genius level) things if they can find their true passion and combine that with the opportunity to learn how to use their will to achieve their goals.