Most ideas vanish in less than an instant. Some ideas make it onto paper where they languish. Once in a while, an idea shines so brightly with the blinding light of potential that I do everything I can to make it real.

Other people soon become mesmerized by the light too and want to bask in it. I’m not stingy. I share.

For a while, the light’s energy sustains everyone. The newness of it inspires action. Even if it is no longer the light I had envisioned, it is still burning.

Then the light begins to fade. I try my best to protect the light and keep it shining like new. I add fuel, I polish, I grease the parts, and I ask for help. But the light is no longer mine. It needs more than just me to grow stronger.

And as the light becomes less and less attractive, people begin to abandon it and my own attention begins to wander. I still feel a sense of responsibility for the light was originally mine, but I had to give up my sense of ownership once I gave it to the community. If I hadn’t, my possessive feelings would have made it hard to allow others to have the chance to take full advantage of the light’s potential.

The effort to maintain the light begins to seem pointless. A light that could have become a beacon to call even more people to it shrivels down to a pinpoint. There’s darkness.

I’ll still trace its glow from time to time and I’ll continue to wonder if I did the right thing by giving it up. There’s little time to dwell on what has been done. Something bright up ahead is enticing me to follow.