I have always been a dreamer of sorts and for me there has always been two kinds of dreams. Conscious ones and unconscious ones. The ones that come at night, although involuntary, can be scary or unnerving but sometimes if you remember them when you awake, there can be a hidden message in them. Often, it’s something your mind won’t let you forget. As a former first responder, I have a lot of them. We talk a lot about not being able to remember but for me not being able to forget, can be just as big of a problem. However not all nighttime dreams are scary dreams and some of them can be beneficial and happy. In the popular song I dreamed a dream. the lyrics say, “There was a time when men were kind, when their voices were soft and their words inviting.” That’s the kind of dreams a lot of us long for now, because it’s something that seems to be in short supply today. But our dreams are telling us that even though its in short supply now, it once existed in our lives. Your mind is like a computer. It didn’t just dream that stuff up on its own. It once knew it because it was there and you downloaded it.
But it’s the daytime dreams that seem to be the most productive ones because we seem to have more control over them. Often, they can be a visionary path to fulfilling your wildest aspirations. Every invention, every work of art, every piece of music, started as someone’s day dream. The longest bridge, the tallest building and the lengthiest tunnel all started in the dark recesses of someone’s mind. That something, that got its start, as maybe only a whimsical dream and then became a serious idea and then finally a reality was made possible by someone who had the idea to dream about it and live that dream. Don’t be afraid to be a little capricious my friends. A teacher once told me to always dream big. “You can always whittle them down if they become unmanageable” he said.
So, I ask you if we could sit down and dream about a better world for all of us today what would it look like. What do we need to get rid of and what would we need to get better at? Let’s start with the things the things to get rid of first. Greed and selfishness come to mind and it’s not just money I’m talking about. It’s when someone else’s likes and dislikes become trashed just because you think you know better. We simply have no right to tear someone else’s dreams apart because they don’t align with ours. It’s the height of selfishness. I think often about the dreams that have been silenced by bigots in charge, who refused to see it any other way but theirs. The nicest people I have met in my life were most often the quiet doers who went about their way, undeterred by those who tried their best to squash their dreams. I think how much bigger and better their dreams and the world would have been if they had been left alone. What we need to keep in our lives first and foremost is love and understanding. Greed and selfishness beget anger and an evil uncompromising attitude. Love and understanding begets empathy and a path to working through our biggest problems.
Back to the song I dreamed a dream and the words of the songwriter. “There was time when love was blind and the world was a song. And the song was exciting. There was a time---. Then it all went wrong.
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