Dream the Dream

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Dream the Dream
At one time someone stood looking across a crevasse. They could see the lush growth on the other side, but there was no way to get there. A human mind doesn’t take a challenge lightly, and at some time long ago some ingenious person decided to span the gap, build a bridge and connect to that unknown. Bridges are one way we can explore that unknown territory, and when we build them, we are looking forward to see what can happen when here meets there.

The first bridge was probably just a tree across a river, but that image has stayed with us, and every time we wanted to get from here to there we build bridges. When we want to unite land masses, we build a bridge. When we want to unite people, we also need to build a bridge.

There are some people in our past who have been really good at building bridges between cultures, spanning the differences between people with some kind of inspiration that will bind them together.

Think about Martin Luther King, Jr. The image we associate most with his historic efforts at civil rights is his “I have a dream” speech. Think about this speech, and try to think of the visual bridge he created which American’s finally united to end “separate but equal”. Can you see that image in your mind which ended decades of Jim Crow laws and brought civil rights reforms to the United States?

Call me crazy, but I think that bridge is the simple phrase one day “right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Were you thinking of the same image? There are many, many things said in that speech which evoke images ranging from Bible passages to a spirited rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.

Why would I think only of the little children hand in hand? Maybe you thought of someone else. But that bridge for me is one of the reasons I think of this speech as a great bridge. Gandhi was another great bridge builder, also freeing the nation of India with non-violent protest.

George Washington built the bridge between revolution and democracy. Abraham Lincoln re-unified a country divided with the bridge of his resolve. Mother Teresa spent her life bridging the gap to the poor with her tireless service.

Where there is a problem, there can be a bridge builder. I have many, many bridges in my life. One bridge connects a Southern Baptist heritage with a Mormon conversion. Another bridge connects blue collar generations with the first college education and white collar work. Another bridge connects artistic endeavor and practicality. You probably have all kinds of bridges in your life, too.

Is there a bridge we need to build together? The gap between the rich and the poor has never been larger, but what is the bridge that brings people out of crushing poverty? The world has plenty but the distribution of that plenty is unequal. What is the bridge that gives to those who have nothing? Our world of bounty is nothing new to us, but how can we help everyone enjoy the plenty we enjoy?

There are those who think of this as a world of scarcity, with only enough for some. I believe in the abundance which is limitless, and depends only on our ingenuity to bring about the changes which today are only dreams. But remember, bridges begin with dreams.

Limitless energy? Maybe that is your job. Assuring that no one goes to bed hungry? Maybe you will be the dreamer. Educational opportunities for everyone who wants them? That might be right up your alley. Finding cures for disease? Maybe you are the one who will dream the solution first.

I remember when I was very young looking at the world around me, not knowing there was any other kind of life than what I knew. Only as I got older did I realize there were people who were richer and poorer than me, more advantaged and less advantaged than I was, and those who could never imagine the incredible life I have been able to live.

Join me on this wonderful journey as we find a way to build a bridge to the future we all can imagine as a better place for all of us. A place where the children of all the world can walk hand in hand into a place we now only dream of. It was one hundred years from the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation to Civil Right legislation. What will you and I dream that will be the new bridge to what we can be tomorrow?