Turning Dreams into Reality

HS #44 2019.3.14

Turning Dreams into Reality

“Who do men say that I am?” That’s a question asked by even the best among us. We all want to know how are we viewed by others.  As the saying goes,  “The 20 year old is concerned with what others think, at 40 no longer cares, and by 60 realizes that no one has been thinking about them in the first place.” 

Yes, a teaspoon of recognition is all most of us need. As a college professor, I am never too alarmed when students complain about an instructor who riles them, but  am concerned if they don’t know their professor’s name. 

But an exceptional few notables generate widespread attention and percolate controversy. The poser of the question above has divided people for two thousand years. Some called him the Prince of Peace, but look at his record – he didn’t bring peace, but a sword. 

Others come to mind. Remember Howard Cosell – provocative sports commentator, civil rights opiner, and close friend of Mohammed Ali? When a poll was taken asking people to rank sport announcers, he got both the most first place and the most last place votes. 

Spend a couple hours at the innovative state-of-the-art Lincoln Museum in Springfield Illinois (easily the best historical museum I have ever visited), and you come away knowing that Honest Abe was a polarizer. Nineteenth century Americans loved him or hated him. 

I recently finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Albert Einstein. In 1938 Einstein won second place in a Princeton University poll asking freshmen to name the greatest living person. Who got the most votes?  You won’t believe it. Yes, he’s the one. You’re still doubting yourself, but you’re right. Let that thought settle for a bit. 

Jesus, Cosell, Lincoln, and Hitler. What do these folk have in common that divides people? At least one thing: They were visionaries. Either you buy into their vision or you don’t. Moreover, their vision preceded and helped create the reality. 

What did Bobby Kennedy say? “Some men see things as they are and ask why.  I dream of things that never were and ask why not.” The author of Proverbs agrees, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” 

This came to mind recently while listening to an interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “Do you believe that North Korea is still a nuclear threat?” “Yes, of course.” “But Trump doesn’t – he said they no longer are.” “That’s not what he said – well, yes, he said it, but . . . “

Love him or hate him, Trump viscerally comprehends that vision drives and determines reality. His worldview was forged in economics and the market place. Why does the stock market rise and fall daily? Expectation. What drives the economy? Perception.  How did Trump become a billionaire other than by selling his name? Modern physics concurs that in some mysterious way perception can create reality. 

If Trump deals in “alternative facts” so does every good coach and general. Military commanders and coaches create a vision for victory in order to achieve the victory.  It’s the job of others to report the outcome. 

So when Trump describes that the threat of nuclear war with North Korea is over, that we are no longer in conflict, that there is no need for a military presence in South Korea, that North Korea’s future can and will be like that of (former) North Vietnam which, posing no threat to its neighbors, is now thriving, his words are intended to bring about that reality.

There are limits, of course. If Puerto Ricans are suffering and dying from the after-effects of a hurricane, a rosy report is of little consequence. 

If Mexico realizes it’s not in their interest to foot the bill for a wall on their northern border, promises to the contrary make no difference. 

If the aggregate temperature of the earth is rising even faster than scientific models have predicted – the fastest since human civilization has existed – with the same effects as when the human body rises several degrees, then the visionary is setting himself up for derision and condemnation by future generations. 

What determines then whether visionaries eventually turn their dreams into reality? We honor folk like Jefferson, Lincoln and King and many others who helped make America great. Their visions were not crushed in the crucible of reality, but created a new and better reality. The dreams of other dreamers, unworthy and vacuous, are carried away as dust in the wind. The crucible is heating.