Short-Sightedness

When I was around 13, a new Burger King popped up in my hometown on a splotch of land between the Wal-Mart and the shopping mall.

"It won't last 3 months," I told my parents, dismissively. How could it? There was already a McDonald's and a Wendy's not a minute drive down the road. 'We already have those. Why do we need another fast-food restaurant?' I thought. I couldn't understand it.

More than a decade later the BK is still there. (Though on principle, not from help with my business. I think I've only been there once, back in the days when I ate fast-food, and that was because someone else was driving.) It has actually outlasted me, in terms of occupying my hometown.

I'm not trying to provide commentary on the success of restaurant franchises. No, that's not the direction I want this post to go. This prophetic example sticks out in my mind for two reasons. One, sometimes when we drive by this Burger King my family laughs and reminds me of my silly prediction. Two, it's an example of the short-sightedness I'm trying to avoid in my life.

I started reading a book this afternoon ("Mad Like Tesla" by Tyler Hamilton) that reminded me of the dangers of closed-mindedness. Telsa is credited with inventing the radio and taking the first x-ray photographs. But he was more than a scientist who toiled away on a one or two great projects. He foresaw unprecedented things. For example in 1898, he made a remote-controlled boat and predicted a "race of robots" that will do the menial work of humans. People, many of them, dismissed Tesla and his ideas. They couldn't figure it out.

Ok, so maybe this example is on a grand scale. Tesla made predictions about technology and energy. His ideas were scoffed at by professors, the media and scientists like Thomas Edison. How can this relate to a goal by an average person (me) to limit my  short-sightedness?

I think Tesla dared to dream. Not only did he not let the ridicule of others bring him down, he didn't censor himself. He wasn't inhibited by a narrow-minded perception of himself or his ideas. Now, I didn't know the man but from what little I've read, I like to imagine that he let his mind wander and didn't reign it in when thoughts became too unconventional. 

This is what I aspire to do, the lack of self-auditing, that is. I want to let myself dream. I also don't want to be the person to shoot down the ideas of others, whether it be the latest crazy invention or a fast-food business venture. 

But more importantly, perhaps, I don't want to limit myself by dismissing something that I can't yet understand. Maybe my half-formed notions -- the ones scurrying around in the corners of my mind that I shoo away with a broom, like unwanted mice -- are really great ideas waiting to accepted, first by me and then by others.

Once again, I just don't know if I was able to convey the way I feel about this topic. I think either need to form ideas that are more concrete OR just become more confident about my work and stick with it. What do you think?