By Mark Antony Rossi
The bitter math of lost potential aggravates any forward-thinking mind. Mainly due to the realization that lost potential stems mostly from bad attitude and not poor aptitude. I’m perennially saddened when encountering people and situations ripe for rich reward but robbed of any future due to lack of will or frailty of faith. It’s maddening to see talent tamed by timidity until time leaves a faint afterimage of person hood.
One does not need vision or even courage to gamble on matters of principle or passion. I’ve known singers, painters, musicians and novelists whom have cast aside their dreams not because the world has rejected them but because the world might welcome them. Life is cruel enough without aiding its conspiracy through self-betrayal.
Business decisions go horribly wrong, health conditions worsen and lives are ruined by those whom allow fear and suffering to steal their potential and hand victory to bystanders slaphappy to cash their unearned prizes. Woe to each of you who fail to lead their lives to the fullest because second chances are not a constitutional right. Failure is not a pretty scorecard but an ugly reminder of whom is at bat and whom belongs on the bench.
I could write psalms pleading to God for mercy to be shown to the benighted pedestrians of lost potential. Yet my prayers are bound to fall on deaf ears for our Creator will listen but cannot force the faithless to follow through. Their fear blindfolds commonweal and their gifts strewn across highways leading to glorious destinations. Heaven’s highest creatures acting less than the smallest animals of the kingdom.
If you ever question why there are so few talented people in any given field — remember this sobering thought — for every concert violinist — there were a hundred more just like them who gave up, ducked out, ran away, moved on from their calling to something else less gratifying, something far less satisfying. Something that labels blessings a curse. Something that makes gifts a burden too costly to carry.
You can call it the law of averages, survival of the fittest, practice makes perfect, only the strong survive or whatever helps you count sheep at night. I call it the bitter math of lost potential subtracting from humanity one frightened soul at a time. We blame Jehovah. We blame the Devil. It is high time we blame the Mirror for our shortcomings and find a method to reach the adult potential locked inside the hearts of all God’s children. For as I stand witness to weakness and wanton disregard I also stand vigilant for those few willing to carry the torch of creativity into the unpaved corners of the globe.
About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York.
http://ethical-stranger.webnode.com/