I'm not the only one

[david]

Why are there so many
songs about rainbows
and what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions,
but only illusions;
and rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told;
and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong. Wait and see.
Someday we'll find it,
the rainbow connection,
the lovers, the dreamers and me.
-- Kenny Loggins

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I’m a daydream believer.

At the conclusion of director John Huston’s classic movie, The Maltese Falcon – which won the 1942 Oscar for best picture – a police detective picks up the statuette for which the film is named and remarks, “Heavy. What is it?”

Private Investigator Sam Slade, portrayed by acting legend Humphrey Bogart, looks up and replies, “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.”

And then Detective Polhaus utters the last line in the film.

Having discovered that the sculpture was not cast in precious gold, but rather in worthless lead, Slade was making a point; in a rather offhanded fashion, he was summarizing not only the movie’s plot, but life itself.

Glancing at the Falcon, he observes: “it’s the stuff that dreams are made of” and Polhaus blankly responds: “Huh?”

Dreamers have their heads in the clouds. They live in a land of the possible. They see a world that never was and ask, “why not?”

You may say that I’m a dreamer. I spend a lot of time imagining a better world; I embrace dreams – dreaming generates change.

Those like Detective Polhaus, who pragmatically live in the tangible present, focusing on what is known to be possible, can create great benefits. They are workhorses, powering enterprises that keep us fed, sheltered, clothed and protected. They earn their keep by doing a day’s work. They are important and essential.

But it takes dreamers to generate change. If nobody operates outside the box, we’re all doomed to remain confined inside – unable to expand and improve because of a lack of imagination.

Of course the distinction between dreamers and non-dreamers isn’t binary. Everyone falls somewhere within the bell-shaped curve – with the great majority operating in a world where dreams have their place, but there’s work to be done.

Residing near one end of that curve are those whom I would refer to as “dreamers.” And that’s the group I relate to. The prospect of change doesn’t frighten dreamers; it energizes them. They crave change, see choice as opportunity, embrace challenges, seek new ideas, reject the status quo and spend a lot of time asking and wondering “What if?”

In another highly acclaimed movie, the musical South Pacific, Bloody Mary observes, “You got to have a dream. If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”

And I say Bloody Mary is right.

There’s plenty of room on this planet for pragmatists; we definitely need folks who operate in the so-called “real world.” But when I’m looking for inspiration, when I’m looking for excitement, when I want to be reminded that every day doesn’t have to be filled with everyday experiences, I look to dreamers.

Not long ago – during all of our lifetimes – a man who had been jailed – and was later killed – for promoting change, stood before a huge crowd in our nation’s capital and said, “I have a dream.”

Today, his vision seems rather modest, but it appeared to be unrealistic at the time. He said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Dr. King lived long enough to see some of his dream advanced in our society. And his four children now live in a nation that is led by a man elected by voters who judged him not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

Sometimes it seems to me as if the greatest dreamers, like Dr. Martin Luther King, tend to disappear quickly; perhaps their candle is burning so brightly –occasionally from both ends – that they just burn out faster than those who are not dreamers.

One of the most optimistic dreamers of our time was former Beatle John Lennon who challenges us to dream in a beautiful song called Imagine.

“Imagine all the people,” he sang, “sharing all the world. You may say I’m a dreamer; but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us; and the world will live as one.”

Most of us dream about having an ideal life with a spouse and children, later grandchildren and even great- and great-great-grandchildren. We fantasize about that house with the white picket fence and the other trappings that, in this country, are often referred to as “the American Dream.”

While campaigning for president in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy often mentioned dreams in his speeches:

“As Bernard Shaw once said,” he would declare, “’most men look at things as they are and wonder why. I dream of things that never were and ask: Why not?’”

I stand with Bobby and with Martin and with Bloody Mary and with Kermit the Frog: I’m a dreamer. And I’m comforted by the knowledge that I’m not the only one.

Oh, and one more thing about that “worthless” lead statuette, the one that appeared in the Warner Brothers’ Maltese Falcon.

Once used as a low-budget prop during production of the movie, it sold at auction 15 years ago for nearly 400 thousand dollars and is currently valued in excess of 2 million.

And that’s the stuff that dreams are made of.