I Have a Dream

On the street where we live, there lives a black man.  I don't know him any more than I know his neighbors on either side.   That is the way my dream goes.   I think it should not matter the color of the people that live near you.  The color of a man's (or woman's) skin should not have any inference or influence on how I treat or interact with them.  There is enough room in my heart to wish everyone success and happiness.  Our school system provides a great education to those that go there and there is a pretty good social net to catch anyone that is having problems.  That's my dream for MLK's 50th anniversary of his I Have  Dream Speech.

Yes, there are problems in the world and a lot of them at home.  Some of the problems stem from the loss of the fact that having a dream and the will to work that plan can and will make your life better.  We have a lot of people that have either lost the vision of a plan and the hope that it brings, or they have listened to the hype and have expectations higher than the reality of life. 

There is a fine balance between what our Government should and must provide.  I think the scale of Freedom has moved too far towards telling people that it is the role of Government to guarantee equal outcomes versus equal opportunity. 

For those that don't know me, I grew up fairly poor.  The limitation of where I lived did not follow me into the Military.  The Army needed young Forward Observers in Vietnam just like they needed Pilots in WWII.  I was a non college graduate that was selected for Officer Candidate School and was bound for Vietnam from the first day I was in the Army.  I used the Army GI Bill benefits to get a degree and we both won.  I found that I loved the Military and used my Active Duty time as a stepping stone to a career in the National Guard.  I had a lot to learn and with hard work I made it. 

I am blessed to have a life partner that also grew up fairly poor and we have benefitted from the shared vision of better things.  We put money in the bank instead of buying a boat and worked with the future in mind.  We have arrived but still have a pretty good view of what is the reality of the world.  

From where I sit, it seems like we have spent a lot of money trying to raise our citizens up into the middle class.  I am sure that there are a lot of good examples but there are a fairly sizeable pool of those that seem to not be there.  I don't have all the answers but so long as people continue to have a dream for their future, they will stand a chance of getting there also.  One note of caution, a plan not worked is doomed to not have the intended consequences we might wish for.  A fair plan worked well can quite often achieve results.  So what are we teaching our children about the past, present and future? 

MUD