JANUARY 14, 2007

"I have a dream." Probably every human being has harbored this phrase in the inner recesses of his or her heart, toying with fantasies of a better life: prestige or fame or power or riches or any number of things in a personal "wish list". Unspoken but nonetheless a powerful motivator to change things in one's experience of reality as it effects the individual.

"I have a dream." Probably most human beings have quietly spoken this phrase to someone else: a sharing of intimacy with a significant other. Perhaps a child to a parent about educational goals, or one lover to another about plans for martial bliss, or one friend to another about career ambitions. A vision held out as a gift or commonly shared aspiration, binding two individuals together in expressing this secret.

"I have a dream." Probably many human beings have hopefully stated this phrase to a wider audience, as a means of enlisting others in a project or endeavor that will help establish his or her place in some society. It might be the pep talk given by a coach to a team, or the annoucement of a new business venture to a group of employees, or the promise of a politican trying to win over constituents to his candidacy. It is an inducement to recruit and involve others in personal progress.

"I have a dream." One human being boldly and courageously proclaimed this phrase to an entire generation of Americans, of all races and ages and classes. On the lips of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., it was a prayer, a plea, and a promise for a bright new world; one based on justice, tolerance, equality, acceptance, love and a myrid of other values and virtues that are at the very core of our existence, as people, as Americans, as Christians. Not personal, not relational, not communal, but rather global and eternal was the dream that he electrified a nation within a speech that lives on even today as we celebrate a national holiday in memory of his leadership and sacrifice.

Many of the elements of his dream may have come to pass in the past generation. Many more represent a dream deferred, which is a dream denied. Consider these facts:
Every 92 seconds a black baby is born into poverty.
Every 42 minutes a black baby dies.
Every 7 minutes a black baby is born to a mother who has had late or no prenatal care.
Every 4 hours a black child is murdered.
Every 7 seconds of the school day a black student is suspended from public school.
Every 46 seconds of the school day a black student drops out of school.

Unfortunately, not all dreams come true. At least, not yet, which is why we celebrate this holiday in the hopes that someday Rev. King's universal dream may come true.