DREAMERS WHO DO
by Whitney Vann and Nicky Abraham
whitneyandnicky@nickabraham.net
January 21, 2009

We can both recall being small children in the back seats of the car and looking out the window, daydreaming, as they say, dreaming about all the possibilities that life held for us. Never did a day go by when we didn't dream and hope for a better tomorrow.

But adulthood is now the hand we've been dealt and while still dreaming, we have accepted the hard cold reality that without doing something each day to make the world better, dreams are hallow shells through which we boast and brag about a tomorrow that never comes - and like Macbeth, are left with "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Doing is to daylight as dreaming is to moonlight. Doing is to the dawn as dreaming is to the dusk. Indeed, we are hard wired for both.

When people pray for someone, there must also be a doing along with the prayer - an action that says "I care about the person I am praying for.

The dream which is unseen at the time is only realized with one step at a time - the next right choice. Doing is a grounding in the ordinary, daily, seemingly small and at times boring acts that paradoxically, exhalt us even as they humble us.

If dreaming is seeing things that never were and asking why not, doing is seeing things as they are and asking how I can make a difference. 

I may forever dream of a better tomorrow, but it is today that calls me to wake up with an attitude of love, get up with a plan for service, dress up in a way that blesses the scenery. It is today that calls me to smile upon others with a style that warms the room, listen with an ear toward validation, work with the knowledge that challenges are healthy, walk with the air of greatness, fall with the determination to learn, run with the expectation to compete. And at the end of today, it asks me to surrender with a tear of gratitude

That we should forever be dreaming can never be an excuse for avoiding the doing of the world. For while it is fine to dream of a day when all can read, it can never be more important than teaching one person to read.

While it is fine to dream of day when discrimination based on color, religion and class will end, it can never take the place of fighting for one person's inherent right to dignity and civility.

While it is fine to dream for an end to war, it can never replace the importance of acting peaceful in times of conflict with loved ones.

While it is fine to dream for an end to violence, let us never allow the dream to upstage our non-violent behaviors.

While it is fine to dream of a land of plenty, it can never be more important than living within one's means.

While it is fine to dream for an end to poverty, such a dream can never trump our doing without the things we want in order that those less fortunate can have the things they need.

While it is fine to dream of a world of love, it will never overtake the need to act lovingly when we don't feel loving.

Yes, the world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But what the world really needs are dreamers who do.

We have an ambitious goal of raising $10,000.
At the sending of this post, we have already crossed $2570.
Follow this Link to our HEIFER TEAM PAGE and make a donation