Dare to Dream

[H2O Man]

“Dare to Dream!”
-- Dr. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter


The best supervisor that I had in human services told me a story the first day I went to work with him. In the southwest, he said, there was a type of flea that could be trained. If you kept them in a closed jar for a short time, they would quickly come to recognize the lid as representing the highest they could jump. One could thereafter remove the lid, and those fleas would never attempt to jump to its level.

Your job, he said, is to show people how to remove that lid, and not be trapped in life.

I remember that Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered one of our nation’s greatest in Washington, DC. It was titled, “I Have a Dream.” It remains one of the most rational, yet passionate explanations of what this country can be. King’s speech helped define how we want to see the United States.

King’s later speeches -- including his April 4, 1967 “A Time to Break Silence” (aka “Beyond Vietnam”) and his final message, on April 3, 1968 -- elaborate on how we make this powerful dream into a reality.

Many of us still share in this Dream. Indeed, we have since spent the years of our life working towards it. At times, we’ve won; other times, we’ve lost. But we still believe in that Dream. We are believers in the Power of Ideas.

A few years back, when autographing a book for my son, Rubin wrote: “To the Son of my dear friend and brother, Pat -- Dare to Dream! Always. Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter.”

Now my son’s generation has taken a close look at the world they inhabit, the one we are leaving them with, and they have been given hope by the Bernie Sanders campaign. And this is powerful. These young adults are not dreaming their lives away. They aren't playing some meaningless game. They are serving as the conscience of this country.

It’s said that a people without dreams has no vision. The Sanders campaign sees that too many Americans are living a cruel nightmare. We are not advocating the every-man-for-himself notion of the tea party. We are not hostile and threatening. We believe in the American Dream that has been crushed in recent decades, by the corporate-political corruption that everyone agrees exists. We know that we have better options.

Dare to Dream!

H2O Man

[Wilms]

1. The Youngin's get it.

It's wonderful to see how they see it, too.

Talk with them!

PS. Typo...

"They aren't playing some meaningless game."

[H2O Man]

4. Thanks.....

corrected!

[malthaussen]

10. As for typos...

... I think you meant to say MLK "...delivered one of our nation's greatest speeches."

-- Mal

[H2O Man]

25. Thanks ....

I shouldn't write when I'm more than half asleep!

[liberal_at_heart]

2. Politicians live in a bubble. They get paid with tax dollars. They get paid with

lobbyists money. Then they get to sit up there in Washington DC and and sit on their hands and do nothing. Sure it is easy for them to say we can't do it. They are not the ones out there fighting everyday to put food on the table for their children. We fight because we dream but also we dream because we fight. And we fight because we have no choice but to fight. Survival is a fight. Life is a fight. We are fighters.

[A Simple Game]

16. Your post points out the main reason we need to bring our Representatives and Senators back home.

Then they get to sit up there in Washington DC and and sit on their hands and do nothing.

Let's make them come home and hire local people for staff and live among the people they claim to represent. Then we'll see how long they dare sit on their hands! Let the people have access to them on a daily basis when they put corporations before constituents.

Let the local TV and newspaper reporters see how many lobbyists come to visit them and then compare their votes to the interests of the visitors they allow into their office.

There is no need for these people to gather in one spot and be a terrorists target. At least that sounds like a good excuse to break up the big boys club and make it harder for lobbyists to work on them wholesale.

[H2O Man]

29. Great point.

There was a time when many politicians did exactly that -- they valued staying in close communications with the people they were elected to represent. Clearly, the influence of big money in politics has changed that.

[H2O Man]

28. Well said!

Thank you for this. I believe that democracy requires constant struggle. It's not something that comes about by simply voting in November, with hopes that any politician can take care of business once elected. Even if a politician wanted to do the right things -- and I doubt that very many actually do -- they need people to be applying constant pressure on the system.

[myrna minx]

3. Thank you. As always, you bring wisdom to our forum.

[H2O Man]

30. Thank you!

[Hydra]

5. There's a powerful combo in play

The people in power are offering nothing but the same. No hope, no change, just more inequality and death.

Meanwhile, the people on the ground have gotten things to move. Momentum is there. We can be the change we need if they won't be.

Dare to be real.

[H2O Man]

32. Right.

At a time when people from across the board were demanding a change in Washington, the "powers-that-be" were intent upon offering up a Bush vs Clinton contest. And I say that with all due respect for Hillary Clinton -- as well as all due disrespect to Jeb. But the very idea shows just how out of touch the establishment is.

[elana i am]

6. great post, but i really don't understand why we have to dare to dream

The Sanders campaign sees that too many Americans are living a cruel nightmare. We are not advocating the every-man-for-himself notion of the tea party. We are not hostile and threatening. We believe in the American Dream that has been crushed in recent decades, by the corporate-political corruption that everyone agrees exists. We know that we have better options.

the "american dream" is not even a dream, it's common sense! to any humanist it's common fucking sense! and there's nothing but common sense in sanders' proposals. even a side by side comparison of the candidates platforms shows sanders is grounded in common sense. even the scary word "socialism" is common sense. government by the people for the people.

as evidenced by the fact that the dem candidate with the actual common sense dem platform is not getting the overwhelming support of either the leadership or the rank and file dems, they have all become a bunch chicken shits.

they are CHICKEN SHITS. and they have lost my respect.

[H2O Man]

33. Good question.

Very good question, indeed.

I'll use Rubin's case as an example, in my attempt to answer in a meaningful way. He had been sentenced to "triple life," for a vicious crime that he did not commit. More, the media made him out to be a racist mad dog, a truly evil human being. His "dream" was to both clear his name, and to win his freedom. Thus, in this sense, his "dream" was a goal that he consciously made for himself. And in all of his waking hours, he worked for that goal. In his 20-year struggle, there were times that were hopeful, and many other times, when it seemed hopeless. But he clung to that dream, until it came true.

In order to achieve his dream, Rubin actually had to become more conscious -- awake at a higher level. Yet, he still dreamed. And in the years between his stunning victory in federal court, and his eventual death, Rubin continued to dream. He focused his being on assisting a legal team assist other wrongly-convicted human beings to clear their names, and regain the freedom that had been stolen from them, by imperfect legal systems.

[ms liberty]

7. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I am very happy to be a dreamer with you my friend, and with my compadres here at DU. A better future begins with a dream. K&R

[H2O Man]

34. Very good!

I was thinking of that wonderful song as I wrote the OP!

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

nt

[H2O Man]

35. Right!

Thanks.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. A big, fat K&R!

[H2O Man]

36. Thanks!

[RiverLover]

11. "too many Americans are living a cruel nightmare." Truth!!!

11 Ways America is Keeping Poor People Poor
http://www.businesspundit.com/11-ways-america-is-keeping-poor-people-poor

*****

[Schema Thing]

12. kick

[Gregorian]

13. We've been tricked by tricksters.

I know intelligent people who were snookered by Reagan. Votes they'll regret forever. "Don't worry, the rich have your back". They didn't. And it took this many years for most of the herd to finally wake up to the lie. Social fears kept people from speaking their minds, when so many were marching to the Fox drum beat. Between outrageous acts of invasion and stolen elections, it has become obvious to even the least aware that something is very wrong.

When we're young we want to be unique. Many older people won't express their thoughts, out of fear. But the youth are removed from the Fox falsehoods. They have their own media. They grew up with it. They "don't believe the hype". Even so, their parents try to mold them. But many years have passed since we first heard the media propaganda, and the youth are far removed from the mindsets of their previous generation. They are looking for an alternative to the mess we went through.

Having watched what our material lifestyle has given us, they are leery of who and what we stand for. I think this is always the case with youth, but this is different. We've just finished a century of energy dependent luxury. And it's changing rapidly to a bleak future, to say the least. Student debt is a huge issue, and yet pales in comparison to what's coming. They know there's trouble brewing. It's their world too, and they are seeking help in the same way many of us older folks are.

We're literally running out of time to save our very existence, and they know it. Like many disasters in life, they serve to bring new consciousness. They only need eyes to know which way the wind blows. It's not coming from Bernie's direction, and they know that too. Bernie tells truth like we've never heard it on national tv. This is extremely attractive to those disgusted by the media lies.

I'm not young, but I've done my best to retain it. I feel more akin to the youth than people of my age. Hopefully my thoughts reflect some truth with respect to what the youth of today are thinking. As long as we know there's a world beyond the lid, we can dream and work to transcend the jar. Oh man, that does sound silly. Haha.

[dchill]

14. It's STILL not trickling down.

[RiverLover]

18. Doesn't sound silly at all!

Last edited Wed Feb 17, 2016, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

Thanks for such a thoughtful post.

[antigop]

15. a sight forever etched on my brain

Several years ago I had the opportunity to visit New York City. I'm a great theatre buff, so I was able to indulge in seeing several shows.

We were out late one night and it was bitter, bitter cold. We took the subway and had to change trains.

We had to walk a fair distance underground to pick up the other train. All along the route we saw homeless people curled up in balls, trying to get some sleep and trying to stay warm. It wasn't just a few. We passed human being after human being, and I asked myself, "What kind of a society are we? What kind of a society thinks it's OK to have human beings curled up in balls in a subway station trying to stay warm, trying to sleep on a concrete floor?"

Count me as a dreamer. We CAN do better. We MUST do better as a society.

Thanks for the OP.

[malthaussen]

17. Sometimes it's hard to tell the dreamer from the dream.

But it's no contest when someone isn't dreaming at all.

I consider that speech to be pretty damned eloquent, myself, but sometimes I think people don't quite get the message. When race, religion, gender, and all those other things that divide us are seen as the irrelevancies they are, then maybe the dream will come true. Barack Obama did not "make history" because he is black, he "makes history" by the substance of what he does. If Hillary Clinton is elected president, she will not "make history" because she is female, but because of what she does. If Bernie is elected, he will not "make history" because he is Jewish, but because of what he does.

The essence of MLK's message in that speech, IMO, is that a person should be evaluated and understood on the basis of his character and will, and not on accidents of birth, or issues irrelevant to participation in civil society. And maybe someday we'll achieve that, one can dream.

As for the American Dream, I have a problem there. Because I think the American Dream is fundamentally flawed, and malignant. That it is possible to construct a set of circumstances by which that dream is reachable by all, or by a great percentage of a particular population, is a question separate from the deeper one of whether it is worthy of achievement in the first place. But no candidate, not Mr Sanders nor Mr Trump or anyone else, is going to address that one. It is, however, a question that we as a society should be willing to examine, since the politicians will inevitably jump on the bandwagon once it has gained enough momentum. For the present, however, we are divided into two camps, both concerned with the mechanical (and trivial) question of whether it is possible to admit more people to the Dream. One says we can, the other says we can't. At least the camp that says we can wants to make a society in which the goods are distributed more widely.

Why is the American Dream flawed? (As distinct from MLK's dream, I have no problem there) Because it tells us that material goods are the only goods worthy of striving for, at whatever cost to sanity, happiness, and the health of the individual, the society, and the planet. A system of conspicuous waste, that is only really concerned with making sure as many people have as many toys as possible, and built on the blood and tears of great masses about whom we know nothing and care less. That's always been an underlying problem, you know: Athens had slaves, Sparta had peons. Examples can be multiplied, but society has always been divided into those who suffer, and those who profit from that suffering. In the case of the American Dream, we exported a lot of our suffering, to disenfranchised classes, to foreign lands. We're starting to notice this more these days, because the ruling class has decided to extend the suffering to a class of people who previously were benefiting from the system. (Calling them "consumers" was actually pretty witty, although I doubt many got the joke) And also because many of the disenfranchised have dared to raise their heads and demand their own piece of the pie. But in this demand, they may be losing sight of the fact that the pie is not really good for anyone. Alas, should one float this idea, it is almost inevitably construed as an effort to deprive others of pie. But, as I said above, this question is beyond the scope of the present campaign, which is really all about pie.

-- Mal

[Oilwellian]

19. One of your best, H2O Man

K&R

[cali]

20. What a wonderful op!

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Ode- by Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

[Zorra]

22. Dreams are fine, but at the same time, we have to be pragmatic.

As in, if we stand together, we can do absolutely anything.

[Fast Walker 52]

23. Great story and great post!

[lunatica]

24. Hopefully the political bubble is bursting this time

Our politicians and pundits and media have lived in their self-created bubble long enough. Let it burst and allow them to finally face the raw truth.

[MuseRider]

26. Beautiful.

Just beautiful.

Without dreams we are nothing.

Think, imagine, question, challenge and push to move forward. I am so heartened to see the younger generations doing this. It gives me hope that we can come back from the darkness we have been living in.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

27. They went too far....

They kept wages flat for too long.

The rule used to be your housing should be a quarter of your income. That went to a third and then a half then a little more than half. Then it went from a one bedroom to a studio to a room with kitchen privileges. Too many out there can only afford to eat, sleep and go to work.

The duties for a job are piled on too. Today's workers do the work of three to five workers in the 70s for the equivalent pay of a quarter what they used to pay for each worker.

[2banon]

31. Kickin' & a Recken'

[Punkingal]

37. K&R