Potential

May 25, 2021

Think about, your potential is unlimited right up to the point that you, not others, place a limit on it. I once served as a counselor to a group of middle school kids that were struggling academically.  One day I held a mock funeral in front of the group. I opened a card board box that had the words “I Can’t” written on the outside. I asked each student to take out a piece of paper and write down the two words “I can’t” at the top of the page. Then I instructed them to list all of the the things that they could not do. Someone wrote down, “I can’t do math equations, another wrote “I can’t read well”, and another wrote “I can’t play a musical instrument.” After each student finished their list, I had them fold up the papers in a tight small square. Them each stood in a line and one by one they placed their folded paper into the cardboard box. We asked out on the playground and I dug a shallow hole big enough for the box and covered it with dirt. With the students standing around I gave the buried box a eulogy saying: “Here lies the body of “I can’t” and all of his “I can’t” friends. From this day “I can’t” will no longer be in our lives. Good riddance.

That was 20 years ago and I’m sure that many of the students are fulfilling their dreams doing all the things that they believed their could because they stopped saying “I can’t.


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