The Pomegranate and the Price of Potential
—on self-doubt, innovation, and the noise within
Once, in a pomegranate, a seed dreamed aloud.
A dream of branches, of wind singing and sun dancing. Of becoming. Of mattering.
And just as quickly, came the chorus.
Some seeds scoffed.
Others whispered warnings.
Many simply added their voice to the noise.
This is how it begins, isn’t it?
One idea—raw, naïve, unformed—sprouts. Not in the world, but in us.
A product. A company. A story. A poem.
A different life.
And before it even finds legs to stand, before it’s allowed to breathe—
come the voices.
Sometimes they’re external:
“That’s not practical.”
“It’s already been done.”
“Why you?”
But mostly, they’re from within:
“Who am I to try?”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“What if it does?”
Like the seeds, we begin to argue with ourselves.
Endlessly weighing and measuring, poking and prodding at possibilities until the moment passes.
The seed that knows it will become a tree is not foolish.
It is simply not yet distracted by doubt.
It hasn’t been taught to overthink.
To outsource its faith.
To speak in committee.
Because somewhere between the first hopeful voice and the ninth cautious one, innovation dies.
Or at least, it goes quiet.
It leaves the crowded pomegranate and seeks quieter soil—
the heart of a quince, perhaps.
But here’s the thing.
We are all seeds.
And the fruit we inhabit is of our choosing.
You can stay in the pomegranate, feeding on fear and certainty and clever counterarguments.
Or you can find the silence required to grow.
Innovation is rarely born in consensus.
It sprouts in solitude.
In the voice that dares to believe before there’s proof.
So the next time you hear your idea whisper—“I will be a tree…”—
don’t interrupt.
Just listen.
And let it grow.
(inspired by Kahlil Gibran – The Pomegranate)
