Potential

Once there was a little girl with great potential. "Listen to that vocabulary," said her amazed parents. "I bet she'll be a famous leader one day; maybe even the president."

Once there was a little girl with great potential. "Read this essay she wrote," said her teacher. "One day when she's a famous author, I'm going to tell everyone that I taught her when she was in third grade."

Once there was a girl with great potential. "This is the best project I've ever seen," said the science fair judge. "You should consider a career in medicine. Who knows, you might find a cure for cancer one day."

Once there was a young lady with great potential. "With SAT scores like this, you can go any college in the country," said the guidance counselor. "With a mind like yours, you can be anything you want."

Now there is a grown woman with great potential.

She never became the president. And she never wrote the Great American Novel. She didn't even find a cure for cancer, but with a mind like hers, she can still be anything she wants.

Sometimes she thinks that maybe she wasted her great potential.

But then she stares at her little girl in amazement and says, "Listen to that vocabulary. I bet she'll be a famous leader one day; maybe even the president."