DailyJim: Tell them about the dream, Jim! Tell them about the dream!

Hello everyone, welcome to another Daily Gym. Today is Tuesday, September 17th, 2024. And today I'm going to talk about, tell them about the dream, Jim. Tell them about the dream.

So many of you may not be aware, but when apparently when Martin Luther King Jr. Was going to give his speech, the I have a dream speech, he was battling between two metaphors. One of them was the bad check metaphor and the other one was the dream metaphor. And he actually chose, in the printed version, to go with the bad Czech metaphor, because he was speaking to a large audience, and he wanted to kind of be a little more low-key. And apparently, when he was speaking, he came to a clunky sentence, and he decided to start talking about going back to Alabama, going back to Mississippi, going back to these places. And at that point, behind him, this woman, when Mahalia Jackson, who was a very famous gospel singer, said, tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream.

And I talk about this today because yesterday I asked for help on Facebook for the work that I've been doing. And I call it the work that I've been doing. I call it life's work. I say check out the testimonials. I say read what I've done and how I've helped people. I talk about the track record, but I don't talk about the dream.

I don't tell people what I'm dreaming and what I want to see in this world. I'm scared sometimes because to put these dreams out there and to have people reject them or ignore them can hurt more than anything sometimes. But if we don't put these dreams out there, how are we ever going to get help? How are we ever going to achieve these dreams? I posted and a few very good friends of mine gave some pretty, I think, strong criticism to what I posted yesterday. Today and then one guy said I don't know what your dream is and who am I to judge another man's dream but I'm going to support you what if we shared the dream so people know what the dreams are so they can support us what if I shared the dream.

I don't know. I'm afraid to say the wrong dream. I'm afraid to say that it doesn't have the perfect conclusion or it's not exactly what I want. But there are some things I really dream about. And if I go down to the core of it, I dream that we learn how to get along with each other. I dream that we learn how to fight for each other, that we learn how to love each other. I dream that places in Israel and Palestine, instead of fighting against each other they were giving up on each other they fight for each other and for themselves what if we had leaders who took us to these places because to change the culture requires some people to step up and have the courage to take us in a different direction.

What if our leaders instead of telling us hey just give up on each other give up on yourselves give up on them or you know these are the enemy and you need to fight against them or you're the enemy you need to fight against this what if we had leaders that told us to fight for ourselves and to fight for each other what if we had a leader in Israel or a leader in Palestine who said I love me I love you and I love everyone here I am fighting for myself I am fighting for you I don't care whether you're Israeli or Palestinian I am fighting for your life I am fighting for love, what if we had people in Ukraine and Russia fighting for each other what if we had leaders in Congo or Sudan fighting for each other not fighting against each other not giving up on each other, what if we had a world where people had these skills had the courage had the strength had the desire and the gumption to go against what so many people in our society are doing, to change the direction, to change the tides.

What if...

We could start coming back together. And that when we get into fights, somebody steps up and says, you know what? Even if you're giving up on this, I am not. Even if you're fighting against me or you're fighting against yourself, I am not. I am fighting for you. I am fighting for me. I am fighting for us.

What if we had more leaders in society who did this? What if we had more people who stepped up into these roles? What if we had more people who, because other people stepped up into these roles, started to follow and started to learn these skills and have the courage to do this?

Instead of just sitting back and waiting for somebody else to solve the problem. Or sitting back and just going in the direction of giving up or going in the direction of being antagonistic and fighting against so many of the other people in society or fighting against ourselves. What if we had leaders who fought for themselves instead of fighting against themselves instead of giving up on themselves what if we had these examples these people who could demonstrate a different way of living a different way of loving this is my dream to go around and not only train people in this but show people that this is possible that i can get into fights that people People can do so many things in this world and I will still fight for me and I will still fight for you. I am not going to fight against me or you. I am not going to give up on me and I'm not going to give up on you, even if you've already done those things.

Because don't we need people demonstrating these behaviors? And if not me, then who? Who?

Gandhi said, to be the change we wish to see in the world. Well, damn it, I really want to be that change. And if I can get better at these skills and I can show these skills to others and I can lead people to the direction of wanting to get better at these things or to just even getting better at these things informally by the way they interact with me, by listening to the podcast, by interacting with me in person, then damn it, why should I not spend all of my time doing this? Not all of my time. I still want to do some other things. But like why should i not spend so much of my life trying to achieve these things, so when when it's about talking about the dream i think i'm afraid to say these things, i'm afraid to share the dream just like almost any human because it requires a lot of courage because people can reject us people can ignore us people can belittle us or people can compliment us or people can idealize us for how we respond or for what we say. But it's our choice on how we respond. It's our choice on how we behave next. And for me, if I can get much better at demonstrating how I am willing to love myself and love others no matter what happens, and that I'm willing to fight for myself and fight for others no matter what happens, what kind of change could that have in society?

How does it change our politics? How does it change our business? How does it change our environment? How does it change our families? How does it change our relationships with ourselves?

I'm tired of wars. I'm tired of friends sending me voice notes with missiles flying overhead. I'm tired of friends sending me photos where they're playing a saxophone and the next photo they're on the back of a military truck. I'm tired of hearing about friends who had to flee countries countries because of civil wars that erupted. Now they're refugees. I'm tired of hearing about families that are estranged. I'm tired of hearing about people who are suicidal. I'm tired of hearing about people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and people who are running away from life and giving up on life. And I'm tired of hearing about people fighting against each other and giving up on each other. I'm just tired of hearing it. And I want to do something to change it. So if if you're willing to help me, I need a lot of help. Because one of the hardest parts of life is that we can't do this alone. We need help. And so if you're willing to help me in this journey, I'd be so grateful. Please reach out to me. And hopefully we can make a dent on this world and shift it a little bit towards that direction, where instead of giving up or fighting against each other, we start fighting for each other. What do you say?