Parks and Rec is one of my favorite shows in existence. Each character is hilarious in their own way (how can one not appreciate Ron Swanson?), and the writing is rock-solid. I never get tired of watching it.

Throughout the show, Tom Haverford (who famously said “Love fades away, but things… things last forever”) is constantly throwing out ideas for businesses or products he wants to create. Among ideas such as “Saltweens: Saltines for teens”, a club called “club-a-dub-dub”, and “Disco Dairy: Spread the Party”, he at one point pitches “LASIK for fingernails: cut your fingernails once, you never have to cut ’em again.” Ben, to whom Tom is pitching this idea, shuts this idea down because it “seems impossible.” Later in the show, while on one of the classic “treat yo-self” trips, Tom sees an offer for Lasik for fingernails. He exclaims with disappointment that he came up with that idea, and then defeatedly agrees to have it done.

Both of these scenes together only last about 20 seconds, but they struck me recently. We all have ideas and thoughts and plans, but we have to be careful with whom we share them. Often an idea will be brushed off by someone because “it’s impossible” or “there’s no way you could pull it off” or (most dangerously) “that’s not how things work,” when in reality it’s a fabulous idea. Other times an idea will be lauded as the greatest thing since sliced bread when really its on par with jumping off a building with only an umbrella (unless of course you’re Mary Poppins).

It’s hard to determine the value of an idea, to predict whether it’s good or bad, but I’m of the opinion that good ideas are stifled more often than bad ideas are embraced. Nearly every idea that has improved the world was at one point viewed as outrageous, impossible, or nonsensical.

The people around us can be a powerful influence on our success or failure, and when they tell us our idea is stupid, they can be right; sometimes it is the wrong idea. But sometimes, it’s just the wrong people.

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