I have a Simian Crease on the palm of my left hand (although I read it’s not terribly polite to call it that these days). My single transverse palmar crease is basically a straight line across the palm of my hand. Dependent on who you believe, it means you are either gifted and destined for great wealth or you have a genetic defect.
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
Myths aside, this crease only occurs in 2 to 5 percent of the population. I was only recently made aware of this rare trait and have searched high and low for my gift – and wealth! I could easily find a defect, I’d imagine.
But it made me wonder about greatness. What does it take for an individual to rise above all their circumstances and become a world beater?
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Over the last two months, I have been glued to the single biggest soap opera for adult men. Football’s transfer window, where the top pros are bought and sold and rumours abound on social media. But one big scoop flew so well under the radar that it took even the biggest gossip mongers by surprise when news broke on Saturday. The brilliant soccer broadcaster Robert Marawa broke the big story that our very own Benni McCarthy had joined Manchester United’s coaching staff.
They are incredibly lucky to have a coach of his pedigree. As a player, Benni won some massive prizes – possibly the biggest being a UEFA Champions League winners’ medal. On the way to lifting old Big Ears, as the trophy is known, Benni scored twice against Manchester United and knocked them out of the tournament. In a season for Blackburn Rovers, he also outscored Cristiano Ronaldo.
Benni’s Hanover Park also has a link to our celebrated Banyana coach Desiree Ellis who spent part of her early childhood there. Desiree recently led the national team to the Women’s African Cup of Nations trophy and has won women’s African coach of the year three years running. (She, like Benni and I, are also lifelong Man United fans, by the way!)
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My football link becomes a little bit tenuous in celebrating the achievements of Trevor Jones. Trevor is no ordinary lad who grew up in District Six – albeit that he is a few years the senior of Benni and Desiree. Trevor loved nothing more than visiting the now defunct Gem Bioscope in Woodstock and actually looked forward to the projector’s bulb that powered the picture malfunctioning so he could immerse himself in the sound of the film.
It became Trevor’s gift. His impressive CV includes the scores for award winning films like Notting Hill and Last of the Mohicans. The football link: he also composed a song for London football club Tottenham Hotspur!
The award-winning composer tells a great anecdote about how he was planning to use the original version of ‘She’ as one of the big songs on the Notting Hill soundtrack. But the publisher was giving him the runaround and he was running out of time. He then enlisted the talents of Elvis Castello who recorded a remake of the song while dropping in at Abbey Road Studios on his way to the airport. The rest is history and Trevor and Castello’s version of the song is now even more popular than the original.
Trevor was honoured by UCT with an honorary doctorate last week for his contribution to art.
If these inspirational stories don’t get you up and out of bed wanting to shoot the lights out then nothing will. Benni transcended immense challenges in an area known for poverty and gang violence. Desiree pushed through the scant regard administrators had – and arguably still have – in those early days of women’s football. Trevor rose up as a young boy in District Six to imagine being a major player in the global film industry and he did it.
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So, what is your excuse? And what makes these individuals tick? Sure, they have incredible individual talents. But I’m pretty sure there are other Bennis, Desirees and Trevors out there with possibly even greater talents.
While I haven’t checked, I’m pretty sure they have normal crease lines on the palms of their hands too!
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Picture: Robyn Pretorius