Build the Kite

By Sandy Glanfield

“It’s taken seven years, but an idea that was seen as naive and foolish, just with persistence, and with building the kite and waiting for the gust of wind that would blow it…”

When Jennifer said this, I paused.

It is such a simple image, but it holds so much.

She was speaking about an idea she had. One that many people dismissed as naive, even unrealistic. And yet, she did not let it go. Instead, she began to build.

Not just the idea itself, but everything around it.

She found people who could support it. She drew on her networks. She sought out expertise. She tested and shaped the idea, learning as she went. It became a draft law. It became a petition. It became a private members bill.

It did not succeed the first time. Or the second.

But the kite was still being built.

What I find so powerful in this is that it challenges what we often mean when we call something naive.

Because this is not naivety.

This is patience. This is care. This is the willingness to take an idea that might feel at odds with the world as it is, and to work with it. To strengthen it. To allow it to evolve through conversation, feedback and experience.

It is about building knowledge, not just outcomes. Building relationships, not just momentum. Creating something that is connected, tested, and ready.

And then, waiting.

Not passively, but with a quiet confidence that when the moment comes, when the conditions are right, the kite will fly.

There is something in this that feels deeply relevant right now.

So often we are looking for quick results. Immediate impact. Proof that something works before we have really given it the time or space to grow.

But perhaps this is not how change happens.

Perhaps change is built. Slowly. Iteratively. In relationship with others. Through trial, through feedback, through persistence.

Perhaps the ideas that matter most are the ones that need time to become wise.

And perhaps the question is not whether an idea is naive, but whether we are willing to stay with it long enough to see what it might become.

Which brings me to the Golden Rule. To treat others and the planet as we would wish to be treated.

What would it mean to apply this not just in how we act, but in how we respond to ideas?

To meet ideas with curiosity rather than dismissal.
To offer thoughtful challenge rather than quick judgement.
To support what is emerging, even when it is not yet fully formed.

If we did that, perhaps more kites would be built.

And more of them would fly.