Potential

really random thought-written in a spoken-word format

Potential.

Potential is kind of a... weird thing

"Potential" is supposed to be an innate feature in humankind. Often seen as a "you-have-it-or-you-don't" kind of thing, or a "some-have-more-than-others" thing.

We label smart kids, kids with "potential" as "gifted." Like at birth, or when they were conceived some magical little thing came down and bestowed upon the child the gift of "potential," of getting somewhere in life.

But potential is a weird thing, y'know. I mean, everyone has potential, it's not like some people are just born with nowhere to go in life. Just maybe, some people have the "potential" to.. what? Learn more easily? Get a better job? Earn more money?

Because is that what it's all about, life? The money? The career? Paying the bills? Because if thats so, well, "potential" doesn't matter. Only the paycheck at the end of the week does.

I think... potential is a choice. You can have all the potential in the world, but if you don't take it anywhere, what's the point? That potential becomes non-existant, irrelevant, and essentially, never was. If you don't have the drive or means to pursue one's "potential," then it really isn't potential, is it? It's just the mid-life crisis what could-have-been.

That's why I never want to say that something could-have-been. It was, or it wasn't, and your entire future is probably dependent upon it. The future is dependent in some way upon every single second of every single living being's life.

That's why I hate it when someone has the nerve to say about some misfit kid or misunderstood guy that they "had so much potential."

No. They didn't.

Or, maybe they did, but just... got off-track, thus making said potential completely irrelevant.

People who seem to get somewhere, do something with their life, those are the ones with the real "potential."

Because "potential" isn't anything in itself. "Potential" is drive. "Potential" is passion. "Potential" is will-power and perserverence. Persistence and luck. "Potential" is what people make for themselves, or find within themselves.

That's why potential is kind of a weird thing, because it is neither existent nor non-existent. If it is used, if someone "reaches their full potential," well, it wasn't the potential that got them where they are. It was themselves. So, does that just mean that "potential" is the statement of ability to do something? But if someone doesn't "reach their full potential," does that mean that the could have done something, but didn't?

No, because what could-have-been isn't what is, so that potential no longer is, and, in turn, never was.

That's another thing that bothers me. The idea of "reaching one's full potential." Is that just putting a limit, a cap on what one can achieve? Why do adult always claim we can do anything in life if there is going to be a limit on what our "potential" is?

If a C-student isn't "reaching their full potential," but then starts getting B's and is considered doing really well, is it implying that that student isn't, can't, will never be top of the class? That student doesn't have the ability to do more, be more? How would they know? They don't. That why no one has a "full potential." Because being full implies a capacity. Limiting children's minds and futures will never allow them to grow.

That's why potential is kind of a weird thing...

It may be, in which case it is, in a way. But if it isn't, well... it never was.

Author's Note

This was my first ramble-y poem. I totally wrote this on the spot and didn't edit at all, so there are probably a ton of mistakes in there. Let me know what you think!