Potential

Potential.  I remember hearing someone say they were sick of hearing of people with potential.  I feel I understand where they were coming from.  What they wanted to see more than potential, were outcomes.
Unless potential is filled, it remains unrealized, and is really no good to anyone.  Personally I would rather one outcome than ten potential’s.  Potential is great, but of itself it is useless.  It only has value if it leads to something.  I guess it is why they say it is better to do one thing well, than ten things badly.
I suppose also it is why, when two combatants go at it, I am always barracking for the one who is not relying on natural talent, but who really had to work to get there.  Personally I would rather have one talent realized, then have ten that go unrealized. Actually I would rather have ten talents and see them all realized.  Unfortunately that is not often the case. The world is full of “if only’s.”  Although I must admit, I am yet to hear anyone say “If only I had spent more time at work.”
I can’t talk though.  I have done a few things, but my life is full of if only’s.  I had potential in area’s that, at the time of writing, are unrealized.  If I am honest with myself, there is a good chance I will take them to my grave.  I would love to say that hindsight is over-rated, but it is really a great teacher.
I need to acknowledge to, that sometimes an opportunity only knocks briefly and then is gone. It is too late to act. A lot of the quotes concerning luck, say there is no such thing.  It is just grasping the opportunity when it presents itself.  Sure sometimes we are in the right place at the right time, but we will miss it if we are not looking for it, or we dismiss it.
Of course this does not mean that I am without hope.  I have it in spades.  There is nothing sadder to me than a person without hope.  It so does not need to be that way.  There are things for me to do that I can grasp, and exercise in, and grow in, and do. I may not have the opportunities I once had, but I still have opportunities.  As they say, better late than never.  I can’t undo the past, but I can learn from it.