SINCERELY SCOTTY by Walter Scott: Dreams
Dreams
“There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, ”Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams.” Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look at it, and yep, they’re still there. These are great dreams, but they never get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line to hold them up and say, “How good or how bad am I?” That’s where courage comes in.”
— Erma Bombeck
Why do so many people let their dreams die unlived or unfulfilled? Do you have dreams you’ve let fall by the wayside? I’m sure we all have and I suspect one of the reasons is the negative attitudes of other people – our friends, family members and not our enemies. Enemies wouldn’t take the trouble. There are always naysayers – those who always say it can’t be done; constantly punching holes in our dreams with put-downs or cynical comments.
When I was working in the engineering division at NASA, we had a saying that went like this, “the difficult, we do right away – the impossible takes a little longer”.
The engineering community still will take on challenges. Remember the boy in a bubble?
The NASA engineering community developed the bubble and suit the young boy needed to be able to go out and see the world rather than be doomed to live in his sterile room forever.
We also met the challenge to go to the moon before the end of the 60s and we did it.
But sometimes we are our own worst enemies. I’ve been known to say, “I can’t” more than once.
And it is easy to come up with reasons why. Frequently, I remind myself of the old childhood story of “The Little Engine that Could” – “I think I can, I think I can”. Have you ever watched a baby learning to walk? No matter how many times he or she falls, they get up and try again until they get it right – “I thought I could, I thought I could”.
Some of my dreams fall more into fantasies than real dreams. I always wanted to go into space, but I knew it couldn’t be. As a kid, I wanted and dreamed of owning a horse; I even prayed for one.
Years later, after I was married, my dream came true – in a big way! I learned to be careful about what I prayed for – it might come true! God sometimes says, “Not now, wait a while”. But I wasn’t listening – I wanted it immediately.
I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the young man at who submitted a college paper on the feasibility of a successful overnight delivery system. His professor determined it was a total waste and gave him an F on the paper. The young man proceeded to prove him wrong and in a relatively short time Fed-Ex became a most successful business. He had created a dream through a college paper and saw it come to fruition.
An idea is a dream in work. Henry Ford dreamed of a horseless carriage and then proceeded to develop ideas on how to make it happen after going bankrupt five times. “I have a dream”, said Martin Luther King, and he gave his life for it.
I believe in a God of unlimited potential who empowers people to reach their dreams. If you find yourself dreaming but not daring, there’s only one thing left after all the arguments are weighed and costs measured. Do it. Try it.
How will you ever know if you can paint that picture, run that business, write that book, earn that degree, make a speech – unless you try it? “I think I can, I think I can.”
Sincerely, Scotty
