Do you have a dream? How will it come true for you?



Today, the annual commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is filled with many different events. Like most holidays, there are sales, cookouts, and folks who have the day off from work. Unlike most holidays, many of the parades and remembrances remind us of important events in the not-so-distant past, and one who was the courageous catalyst for turning the tide in race relations here in the U.S.

For those of us who are too young to remember, it’s hard to imagine the profound differences between life today and how things were 62 years ago. At that time, the choice to sit anywhere you wanted on a public bus, or attend any school you wished, or pursue any job for which you were qualified wasn’t a reality for every citizen. (That’s putting it mildly.)

From Alabama to D.C.

From 1955-1956, the Montgomery (AL) Bus Boycott, sparked into action. Due in part to Rosa Parks‘ courageous stand, the boycott was a key event in the long-simmering civil rights struggle. A young Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister (and newly-minted Ph.D.), was thrust into the national spotlight as one of the leaders. Even though the boycott was a success, he paid a high personal price for his role.

In August 1963, the long road of struggle that began in Montgomery (and even before) came to a climax on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. King’s immortal speech, ”I Have A Dream” set forth, in towering rhetoric, a vision not just for one race or one part of the country, but for all Americans. But it wasn’t just the speech or the dream that made the biggest impact, but the plans and action that followed “The March on Washington”.

“A goal without a plan…”

King’s speech, without a doubt, set a high marker for inspirational rhetoric and vision-casting. If the movement just ended there, nothing of consequence would have changed. Without a doubt, the follow-up plans, the strategies, the volunteer recruitment efforts, the targeted campaigns and marches brought about later successes such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

According to the early 20th-century French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

To be sure, Dr. King’s dream has yet to be fully realized. (Even a casual look at recent events in the news will remind us of that.) And yet, all the progress made over the past six decades would not have been possible without the planning and strategies that he and those who followed put into action. Indeed, “we shall overcome” – not just because of high words, but the hard work and sacrifices that make dreams possible.

The dreams you have for your life (and your world) may not be as universal as Dr. King’s, but it is still just as necessary for you to make a plan – and to carry it out. So, what is your dream today?

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