I have a problem with the word potential. It feels like an empty promise. Everyone is born with potential, and as we age that potential ticks towards empty like the minutes of our lives. Just the other day I watched an excellent commercial by Nike that showed a very overweight boy running to the point where his body dripped with sweat. That is potential in its raw form. That is the realization that our bodies are molded by ourselves and we must put in the required effort in order to achieve the goals we wish for ourselves. This is where the general understanding of potential fails.
We, at least in this iteration of American society, place caps on potential. It is pervasive. We compare everyone to someone who came before. Usain Bolt is trying to be Carl Lewis, Lebron James is trying to be Jordan, every female astronaut is trying to be Sally Ride. This may be true, but it should not be. Potential, as a capping mechanism, weakens our individual ability to grow beyond the boundaries of someone else’s imagination. When I started writing I wanted to be the next Stephen King. I didn’t want to rule his genre, but I wanted to be that big. This was the cap of my imagination. Then, as I grew and saw the walls of opportunity closing in, I wanted to be the next Nigel Findley, the next Kenson, the list goes on.
What I didn’t want to be was the first me. I did not recognize what that could mean, because there was no roadmap to get there, which is what potential unfortunately creates. Potential allows one to craft a path by someone else’s history. It tells you how to get somewhere, which is in the vicinity of where you thought you wanted to go, but is unlikely to be anywhere near where you are meant or capable of going on your own. I am not saying in makes you wish for more than you can be or even less, but it makes you wish for someone else’s experience when all we should ever wish for is what we ourselves are capable of becoming.
I don’t talk about my kids in terms of potential. I talk about them in terms of ability and preparedness. I give them the skills and the tools to learn what they want to be. They need to build their own roads to get there.
Some Thoughts:
1. I know this is waiver wednesday, but I wanted to put it on hold for a very special wednesday next week once the pre-season is in full swing.
2. Writing. Yeah, I’m back at it. Nothing I can say right now other than there is some GREAT stuff in the pipe. Stay tuned.