Potential

Reading this quote by Anne Frank made me pause and think. If Anne had lived who would she have become? She obviously had vast amounts of potential. Reading just these few words takes my breath away. But, all we know is that she had potential.

So what is potential? I looked it up on dictionary.com.

po·ten·tial  [puh-ten-shuhl]  Show IPA

adjective

1. possible, as opposed to actual: the potential uses of nuclear energy.

2. capable of being or becoming: a potential danger to safety.

3. Grammar . expressing possibility: the potential subjunctive in Latin; the potential use of can in  I can go.

4. Archaic. potent1 .

noun

5. possibility; potentiality: an investment that has little growth potential.

6. a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed.

7. Grammar .

    a. a potential aspect, mood, construction, case, etc.

    b. a form in the potential.

8. Electricity , electric potential (  def 1 ) .

9. Mathematics, Physics. a type of function from which the intensity of a field may be derived, usually by differentiation.

Basically potential is what something or someone has the possibility of becoming. Except in math. Math messes everything up and I refuse to talk about it. Math is like the serial killer in the family that no one wants to admit they are related to.

Anne Frank is world renowned. Everyone knows here name. Unless you are that one Justin Beiber fan that needs to spend more time paying attention in school. Would everyone still know her name if she had lived? Or if her short life had not been touched by tragedy? Would she have even been a writer if she had grown up as a "normal" teenager?

These are questions that we will never know the answer to. The real question is...are you living up to your potential?