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Posted March 30, 2009 "It’s just an idea . . ." I suspect that important ideas, ideas that have real impact such as the Panama canal, the interstate highway system, the human genome project, etc, have all been soundly criticized and even denounced or ridiculed. I cannot count the number of times I have been told something will not work, cannot be done, or is a waste of time, only to accomplish it. Indeed I have been guilty of that myself on countless occasions, critiquing the ideas of others or failing to believe something possible that I later found to be possible by dint of hard work and the suspension of disbelief. Everything starts with an idea, just a thought, delicate, ephemeral, like a bubble. Ideas, like tiny seeds, need fertile earth and nurturing to survive and grow. Good ideas, like seeds, can be remarkably tough and durable and sit waiting until conditions are favorable for growth. In fact, the test of a good idea may just be this waiting period. I find that I get infatuated with an idea. I liken it to seeing a pretty girl and falling ‘in love’ instantly, willing to sacrifice a knuckle to win her over. But then another comes along, and I instantly forget the first and fall into infatuation with this new one, and on and on. None of these infatuations should lead to marriage without much time passing and study of the individual to see if they are worth investing your life in. I, or we, fall in love with our own ideas just the same, and waiting can be a useful way to see how strong the infatuation with any one idea really is. We call it marinating. Let ideas sit awhile and marinate, and come back to them later when the infatuation has passed to see how much you truly love them. Everything starts with just an idea, a thought. Or as we like to say . . . “Imagination changes everything.”
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