Dreams. Hopes. Wishes. Fluffy little feelings that occupy our minds at carefree moments. Happy little longings. Far off feelings of things that may never be. Dreams can be all of those things, but they are also so much more.
Dr. King dreamed of a better day, and though we have much ground to cover still, we have come so far. President Obama's journey would not have been possible in Dr. King's day, but it is real today. I can't think of a more perfect example of the fact that dreams do, in fact, come true. Many of Dr. King's dreams that he spoke of so beautifully when he stood in front of The Lincoln Memorial on that August day in 1963 have come true.
I think dreams, overall, sort of get a bad rap. Dreams get accused of being frivolous, but those are not the dreams that matter. The important dreams are not fluffy clouds. They are blood spilled. They are sweat dripping from every pore. They are dirty hands and frayed nerves. Those dreams are finding yourself at wit's end, and choosing a new path.
Now I fully admit that a dream, without that effort, is nothing. Or if it is something, it is little more than a distraction from the void.
But those important dreams can be acted upon. Our history taught us that. We have seen it happen. I'm reminded of this quote by T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia):
All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
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