Do You Have A Dream?

Today, August 28, 2009, marks the 46^th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech.  Take some time today and read or listen to the complete speech (I did) – it is powerful and moving – a reminder of a darker time in America, yet a beacon of hope because so many of King’s dreams have already come true.  People can change – and that gives us all hope for a better tomorrow.

King gave his speech standing on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.  The speech was the culmination of the massive day-long “March on Washington” event that King helped to organize.  Thousands of people rallied together, peacefully marching the streets before listening to songs by Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and speeches by Charlton Heston, Roy Wilkins, and John Lewis before King got up to speak.

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Although the event is remembered today as the “March on Washington”, the full title of the event was actually “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”.  Should we be rallying today for “Jobs and Freedom” too? 

An excerpt from the speech reads:  “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

You don’t have the “right” to be happy

I love the reminder that King gave of the “dream” of our Founding Fathers:  that all Americans should have the right to pursue happiness.  We don’t have the right to “be happy”, only the right to pursue happiness for ourselves.  The underlying theme of the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960’s was that hatred and predudice was preventing others from pursuing life, liberty, and happiness by limiting opportunities for employment and free association.

King wanted all people to be allowed to pursue their own individual dreams – to become all that we can become without artificial barriers in our way – to be judged by “the content of our character”.  We as a country have accomplished much since his speech and that should be celebrated today.

What is your dream?

Do you have a dream?  Are you actively pursuing happiness?  Thousands of American soldiers, civilians, and even King himself gave the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that you have the right to pursue your dreams.  Are you doing it?

Do you need a better job?  What are you doing today to put yourself in position to have a better job?  Are you daily improving your skills so your work has more value?  Or maybe you are struggling with the burden of debt?  What are you doing to attack that beast in your pursuit of financial freedom?  You have the right to be your own bailout!  To fight your way out of it!

As King said:  “I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.”

Identify your dream and pursue it with all your might!  Don’t let anything get in your way. 

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