Bird Droppings April 27, 2025
POTENTIAL is only a word unless applied
“Love is a complex experience which seems to follow no rules but its own. Romantic love can have the power of a hurricane or the tenderness of a soft, wet wind. I have known, too, a chance introduction which instantly and magically merged into a lifelong friendship. And I’ve known love that refused to blossom over decades despite close, frequent contact. Then suddenly, this same person I had not considered significant became a treasured friend.” James Kavanaugh, A Lifetime Isn’t Long Enough To Love You
It was nearly twenty-five years ago that I went for an interview to be accepted into the Master’s Degree program at Piedmont College. I failed my interview. I had already been in school for over a year and somehow forgot the interview process. When my advisor found out I failed the interview, she called me, and I was extremely fortunate to sit in with the Dean of the Education department and gain acceptance to the program officially. It was nearly a year later that I faced that professor in class who had failed me on the interview. Much like Kavanaugh’s thought, we became good friends, and in effect, he reintroduced me to a long forgotten, on my part, poet, James Kavanaugh. I now have many of his books in my library, and this one caught my attention. The above is the first paragraph of the introduction. The failure of the interview is another story.
As I was thinking of potential, I realized that it is so much about how we perceive and see the world and those around us. It is the acceptance and caring we share and that we allow others to participate in. Potential is a simple word, yet so often robbed from students and friends as we impose our own priorities and limitations on relationships, communication, and on life itself.
“There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential.” Rusty Berkus
As parents, teachers, and friends, we need to ignite others and, when needed, ignite ourselves. Each day, I watch teachers, and other students limit the potential of others. Often, we do this indirectly without thinking.
“Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.” Sir Thomas Browne
Several years ago, in 1905, unearthed in South Africa, a baseball-sized rock was pulled from the ground and covered in mud. It may have been discarded, but when an observant miner carefully washed and cleaned the stone, it turned out to be the largest diamond ever found. The Cullinan Diamond weighed in at over 3000 carats. When cut, the diamond was made into several now-famous cut stones, most of which reside in the crown jewels of Great Britain, including the golf ball-sized stone in the scepter of the Queen.
“Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential.” Liane Cardes
“The treacherous, unexplored areas of the world are not in continents or the seas; they are in the hearts and minds of men.” Allen E. Claxton
So often it is within us that we become limited. We become the stumbling blocks for our potential. It takes perseverance and effort to overcome our fears and inadequacies many times. Often, children are put down and carry that into later events and undertakings, a sense of inadequacy and potential is squashed.
“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people’s lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.” Steven R. Covey
A virtual business empire has been built by Covey, helping and inspiring people to become aware of their own potential, unlocking what they held inside. Great coaches in sports and life, through understanding people, achieve success with teams that may not have the greatest athletes but have a concerted effort to achieve their potential. In a recent college football game, a seemingly invincible team was upset by a smaller college. It was that team’s effort to reach their true potential, and another team thinking less of them because of who they thought they were.
“A pint can’t hold a quart — if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it.” Margaret Deland
“It’s the moment you think you can’t that you realize you can.” Celine Dion
“What you can become you are already.” Hebbel Friedrich
There are really no secrets to unlocking our own potential, it is there waiting. So many years ago, I remember my father saying Never say ‘I can’t’, ‘you can achieve anything you set your mind to”. .
“The cynic says, ‘One man can’t do anything.’ I say, ‘Only one man can do anything.’” John W. Garner
Author of numerous books on Leadership and motivation, Garner states it is there inside us, “Only one man can do anything”.
“The greatest waste in the world is the difference between what we are and what we could become.” Ben Herbster
“Most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make very small use of their possible consciousness and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.” William James
We get into the habit of accepting limitations, of listening to those around us who keep us back. We should instead seek people and friends who uplift and raise the standards for us and those around us. Try to look for people who also want to reach their potential.
“It’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you use that makes a difference.” Zig Ziglar
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve obviously never been in bed with a mosquito.” Michelle Walker
We can each make a difference between ourselves and with others by not holding friends, family, and/or students back. Instead, by helping them to reach their potential, by not having expectations that limit growth and achievement. We can accomplish anything by reaching for the sky. Today is near the end of the week, let us all be more aware of those around us
“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, and bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.” Mary Jean Iron
Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts, namaste.
My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,
Mitakuye Oyasin
(We are all related)
docbird
The daily meanderings of a teacher 