Living the Dream

I'm sitting in a cafe on U Street right now and as I look around me, I'm literally surrounded by such a wide variety of people: multi-racial, blacks, Asians, Indians, whites, and everything in between. It is hard for me to grasp that in the simple act of just going about my business, I'm living the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Because of people like him, I can go about everyday not even slightly concerned about where I can and can't go or who I can or can't interact with just because of the color of my skin.

Today, we have the day off as a celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday (which was actually on Friday) and unlike most other holidays when I just revel in the joy of not being in the office, the why I have the day off has actually been on my mind quite a lot. Here was someone who was just like you and me in the fact that he had a dream...we all have dreams! Yet the fact that his dream was so much bigger than just his own life; the fact that he actually went out everyday and took actions to achieve his dreams; and the fact that he pursued his dreams in spite of multiple threats to his life...all this and more separate him from so many others. When faced with fear, he consistently chose not to move through that fear and continue he his path.

As I think about his life, I can't help but think about my own life. Honestly...my dreams don't even come close to scale of desegregation and as far as I know, no one is trying to expedite my journey to the grave. Yet sometimes I feel like I'm still playing small, not living as fully as I can, still being held back by silly fears. Needless to say I'm working on that!

{Photo: Iri5}