cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Steve Betts
I heard this story on a motivational mix that I was listening to recently and thought I would share it (paraphrased).
Two young boys were skating on ice when all of a sudden, one of them fell through and got trapped under. His friend started to punch the ice in hopes of breaking it but could not get through. In desperation, the friend climbed a tree and broke off a huge branch, came back down the tree and started smashing the ice, eventually breaking it and miraculously saving his friend.
As emergency services came after the boy was safe, they sat in amazement and wondered how the little boy was able to break off the branch, smash the ice and save his friend. As they were sharing their amazement, an old man walked up and said, “the boy was able to do it because there was no one here that told him he couldn’t.”
Pretty powerful story for what we do in both administration and teaching. How many times has a great idea or thought been extinguished by simply telling someone that it wasn’t possible?