NATION OF DREAMERS?
Are we a nation of dreamers?
That may be, and is it bad or good that we are so?
It could be considered to be a harmful stance if it means that we tend to plan
things and then let them ride; never do anything practical about them.
If you are given to dreaming at night when you seem troubled in your sleep, you
know that dreams come in many styles, intensities, and that they can be both pleasant
and otherwise. With many of us, they can become so real as to be genuinely tiring and
one has to get up and rest a while before going back to sleep.
That’s the kind of dreaming we must do as a nation. Our dreams should urge
action.
Sigmund Freud in his “Dream Work” developed the concept that “all dreams are
wish fulfillment’s” so, when we dream up some unusual thing we should do as a nation ,
we also tend to work to make them become realities.
A key to our national growth from the earliest days was the idea of migrating
westward into vast, unknown regions. That was something of an extension of the urge
which brought our forefathers here from Europe.
For a time it extended to the Pacific rim, but we ran out of geographically bound
“west”, lest we infringe on the dreams of others, we turned our attention outward to the
far reaches of space.
The results of that venture are just beginning to be seen and the whole idea was a
subject of dreams in my youth.
So much of what we do today; the things which form the essential part of our daily
experiences; relationships with other people and nations were, not too long ago, just
dreams. Look about you at the gadgetry which is so commonplace. If you are as old as I,
you can remember a time when we did not have radio, much less TV and computers;
when movies were silent, flickering images; fresh foods we enjoy so much we seasonal
treats rather than regulars on our dinner tables. All of these, and many others have come
about from dreams of ways in which something might be created or improved and made
more useful to us.
Individuals have dreams and become more worthy because of such spurs to
ambition...Thomas Edison had his dream, Martin Luther King had his “dream” of what
might be, Burbank, Carver, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Buckminster Fuller, Henry Ford. The
list is endless. All had dreams and did something about them.
Our nation should do so, as well.
A.L.M. May 26, 2002 [c440wd]
