Potential

When you meet someone for the first time how do you measure them up? On their past? What they are doing presently? Or on their potential? I had this random thought this morning as I was wandering about aimlessly working on things.

I love to watch all the extra footage on DVDs. It's amazing to me to see how much work goes into making a tv show or a movie. I've learned so much about the process and am continually impressed with everything that goes on behind the scenes that you'd never know.

Recently I was watching some try out footage. When I saw it and compared it to how these performers act in the finished product it's hard to believe they are one and the same person.

Casting directors must have an amazing ability to see the potential in people and situations. What a different place this world would be if we could look inside people to see what they will
become and treat them as they were already there.

I remember once many years ago when a cousin came to visit me at college. I treated him as I had remembered seeing him several years before. After our visit though it occured to me that he was trying to be very different from what he once was. He'd been through many life changes since I'd last seen him and was actually quite a different person. It's sometimes difficult to allow others to change.

When we get married we not only need to know our spouse's past so we can understand where they are coming from, but know their present situation because that's what we deal with day to day and also see in them their true potential and do whatever is within our power to help them achieve it.

I've often thought that if we didn't need other people to learn and grow we'd each be on our own little planet growing food and sustaining our lives. But that's not how it works. We're all in this together and one of our biggest missions is to not only see the potential inside of us and work towards it but to also see the potential in others and help them achieve it.