Potential

After I read a synopsis of the new kids movie Despicable Me, the ending words stuck with me: "...until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad."

What a great word: Potential.

By Webster's definition, "...possible, as opposed to actual; capable of being or becoming..."

So in this movie, the world's greatest villain is capable of something other than villainous deeds? Exactly. He has potential.

Now picture a child. Perhaps your child. Or the on down the street. Maybe the one around the corner; you know, the one who accidentally hit your house with the baseball.

Now think about how many years of life he or she has left. Years to make a difference. Years to do amazing things that we could never, today, think possible.

Now put yourself in that same picture. And you bring with you all your life experience. Even if you don't have a lot of life experience, you have more than a child. What are you doing with your experience? Could your experience combine with someone else's potential and result in something extraordinary?

I think they work well together; an experienced older person and a potential-filled child.

Maybe, just as the little orphaned girls saw something that no one else had ever seen in Gru, you could see the potential inside a child — and then help them see what they are capable of becoming.

Elise Sagmoe is the Communications Coordinator at the KIDS HOPE USA National Office. She loves to run, read, watch movies, and build into the lives of children.