because I, too, have a dream.

I am reposting this on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Because I, too, have a dream. 

I have found as I’ve made my way into adulthood in this life of mine, that I share his dream. And I have dreams of my own.

I have a dream that we won’t fool ourselves into thinking Dr. King’s dream has been realized.

I have a dream that one day we will stand in lines all night long to find solutions to child abuse and child hunger, just like we stand in lines all night to buy iPads, and Harry Potter books, and tickets to the next Star Wars movie.

I have a dream that one day we will show up by the thousands in small towns across this nation and this world to show support for dismantling racism, just as we’ve shown up with incredible energy to win the right for a Google Fiber network to be put in our town.

I have a dream that we won’t abdicate our personal responsibility to the power of the internet and technology and that signing online petitions won’t take the place of other, needed action.

I have a dream that what happened to James Byrd and Matthew Shepard and Lawrence King will never happen to anyone else.

I have a dream that we will never see human beings as abstractions or “whats” but always as “whos,” people who are as fully textured as we are, whether they are the CEO or the homeless person in Pack Square.

I have a dream that we will wake up and realize the discrimination we impose on our lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, and intersex friends and neighbors is immoral, that we will be as ashamed of it in twenty years as we are of the behavior of our grandparents in the 1950s as they propagated discrimination against blacks.

I have a dream that no child will go hungry tonight, no child will be gang-raped in their lifetime, no child will be bullied into killing him or herself.

I have a dream that when we ask “how are you?” we will stop to hear the answer.

I have a dream that two monologues will never be confused for a dialogue.

I have a dream that every person who is contemplating suicide will find someone to reach out to instead.

I have a dream that we will protest disparities in our criminal justice system and health care system like our hair is on fire.

I have a dream that we find a way to walk toward and embrace the darkness in our lives as a rich soil for growth instead of protecting ourselves and others from it.

I have a dream that children who are spirited, who have Autism or Asperger’s, or who are now seen as outcasts or “problems” for any reason will be recognized for the gifts they bring the world.

I have a dream that peace is as prosperous as war.

I have a dream that everyone who was hurt or traumatized in their childhood will get the help they need not to perpetuate that pain into another generation.

I have a dream that either/or thinking will be abandoned in favor of both/and.

I have a dream that we will abandon the Oppression Olympics that keeps us from making real progress in the fights against “isms” of all kinds in our effort to be seen as most worthy of attention.

I have a dream that we will choose to be optimistic in the face of despair.

I have a dream that we will all spend a year getting to know someone who scares us.

I have a dream that we will all recognize we are the storyteller and not just the listener.

I have a dream that we will find prejudice and hatred and ridicule in others not as an occasion for prejudice and hatred and ridicule on our part, but as an occasion for learning and teaching.

I have a dream that we can all learn to give up our need to be right in order to hear one another’s perspective.

I have a dream that we will recognize we are always in choice.

I have a dream that women will one day be able to walk to their car late at night without holding their keys in their hands like a defensive weapon.

I have a dream that we will find a cure for MS, CF, ALS, spinal cord injuries, and cancer. And soon.

I have a dream that white males will be allowed to cry freely without being teased about it.

I have a dream that my children and your children will take the best of what we offer them and leave the rest behind.

I have a dream that teachers, nurses, and artists will finally be recognized for the national treasures they truly are.

I have a dream that teachers will make as much money as basketball players and will use the excess funds to transform our educational system into the one they long for, one that focuses on learning, and not teaching or containing or testing.

I have a dream that we will all sit quietly and very still for just 10 minutes every day.

I have a dream that we will learn how to listen half as well as we judge.

I have a dream that every week we will provide at least one meal to someone who is hungry.

I have a dream that giving is our national pastime, not getting.

I have a dream that every lonely child will find a friend who loves her.

I have a dream that we are find commonality amidst a glorious celebration of difference.

I have a dream that we stop confusing noticing difference with making a judgment.

I have a dream that we will consider volunteering to help others less fortunate to be our birthright, not our punishment.

I have a dream that, as Henri Nouwen said, we recognize community not as a place to dazzle each other with our talents, but as the place where our poverty is acknowledged and accepted…as a true source of new life.

I have a dream that you, too, have a dream.