You Can Call Him Jimonardo, Renaissance Person

I am proposing a new movement in America: the Master of None Movement.

This title comes from the back half of the old phrase, “jack of all trades, master of none.” It is usually intended as an insult, referring to a person who can do a variety of things, all of them badly.

However, we here at the Master of None Institute believe that nothing is wrong with being a jack of all trades. We believe that it is possible to do a number of things well, or at least only half-badly.

Frankly, our movement swims against the modern trend in which people devote themselves singlemindedly to one field, such as computer programming or Star Trek figurine collecting. Maybe these people can recite the market value of every Star Trek character, but does this make them well-rounded? No it doesn’t, unless they are equally knowledgable about all of the spin-off series.

Many years ago, the world revered the well-rounded individual. In fact, he was called a Renaissance Man, which was a high compliment indeed. The term implied a broad knowledge of the arts, the sciences and the world at large. It implied a person whose curiosity was not limited to one esoteric field, but encompassed all arenas of human thought. It referred to somebody like Leonardo DaVinci, who could paint the “Mona Lisa” on Monday, write a treatise on hydraulics on Tuesday and play error-free shortstop for his semi-pro team on Wednesday.

In fact, I think Renaissance Person Movement might be a better name for this burgeoning social phenomenon. (It’s certainly better than the Master of None Movement which is too easily confused with the Master of One’s Domain Movement, which is a different movement altogether.)

Anyway, to understand the Renaissance Person Movement, you must understand one of the basic laws of economics and life: the law of diminishing returns. Put briefly, this law states that if you spend a moderate amount of time or money on something, that’s fine, but if you spend too much, then you’re being just plain stupid.

Let’s take golf as an example. Let’s say you are a bad golfer shooting about 100 strokes a round. With a few weeks of lessons and diligent practice every week, you can cut 20 strokes and shoot 80. That’s an excellent return for your time and effort. You are now a decent golfer.

But this is where the law of diminishing returns kicks in. In order to slash another 10 strokes - to be a true master of the game - you must devote your entire life to golf. You must be like one of those touring pros whose sole interests are (1) golf, and (2) golf ball endorsements.

Is it worth spending your whole life on golf, just for another lousy 10 strokes? Many would say yes, but those of us in the Movement say no, because we also want to learn to play the accordion. Besides, with our luck we could devote our entire lives to golf and still never break 80.

Still, you get the idea. The world is better served with a person who shoots 80 at golf but who also builds wooden boats, translates the works of Homer and wins the Nobel Prize for Medicine, than with some guy who can shoot 70 but who has never won the Nobel Prize for anything, not even something easy like physics.

We in the Movement believe that the trend toward narrowness is especially pernicious in the professions. Do we really want judges who know everything about law, but nothing about science or history? Teachers who know everything about education but nothing about art and music? Doctors who know everything about medicine but nothing about poetry? Well, yes. Nobody wants a doctor to launch into “Howl” during a prostate exam, but the point is, we need professionals who are broadly knowledgable about the world.

I see the problem every day in my chosen profession, journalism. Why do journalists get journalism degrees? We’d be better off studying Shakespeare and science and logic or one of those subjects that we’ll actually have to write about, such as multiple use zoning and its impact on potholes. Instead, we study journalism, in which we learn the art of asking highly obnoxious questions.

So maybe I should start with myself in my new movement. I need plenty or work on the “jack of all trades” part. The “master of none” part, I already have down cold.

To leave a message on Jim Kershner’s voice-mail, call 459-5493. Or send e-mail to jimk@spokesman.com, or regular mail to Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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