The Dream

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

Today is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and all that he did for this country. MLK Jr. was always one of my favorite people to talk about in school, because he made a difference and impacted the world.

His entire “I Have A Dream” speech is inspiring and gives me chills every time I listen to it. Most of the times I have to hold back tears, because it just hits me in ways I can’t explain. It’s always been that way for me, even when I was in elementary school and they explained the importance of this speech. I always found it as something to always keep in mind.

When I was little, I had this glorified image of protesting and when I mean little, I mean at the age of 4 (one of my brothers’ did something that I didn’t like and I protested at home. I literally made a sign and walked around the house protesting about my brother. I was FOUR!!!). I viewed people who protested, my influence was the Freedom Marches that King and others led, in a super positive light because they wanted to lead for change. As I have gotten older, I don’t agree with every protest I see, some I totally disagree with, but people are standing for what they believe.

King’s speech is still as powerful as it was when he first delivered it, but are we still fighting for that dream?

Let’s think about it, there are still injustice in the world; there are still people being looked down on whether it is race or gender or who you are attracted to; there are still people who do not have a voice. Just because it is 2014 does not mean that we have already achieved this dream, in fact, we still need to be fighting for it.

Has it gotten better? Of course it has! Is there room to improve? Of course there is! If we ever believe we have reached the perfect point, then I am very sorry to inform you that is a fallacy. There is always room for more understanding, acceptance and listening!

I’m not saying here that we must all believe in the same things or all is the same. All I am saying that we need to be accepting of people and be willing to listen to the other side.

We are all created equal! We can do this if we lend our hands out to our brothers and sisters and rise up together. It does not matter if we agree or disagree politically, spiritually or anything like that, we must be willing to be a source of peace. Peace, not being a doormat and not having an opinion, but willing to listen to the other side.

I believe we can continue to move toward the direction of being equal, but it won’t ever be perfect. Just because it won’t ever be perfect does not mean we can’t strive for equality for all!