Think of That!

    Leonard Bernstein was commissioned to present a private performance to a rich old lady. His entire orchestra set up in her lavish ballroom, and a few invited friends sat for the presentation. Well, the orchestra “waxed eloquent” as Bernstein led a well-known movement of his own creation. Having finished the piece, he turned and bowed to the old woman.

“Ms. Pierce” smiled and applauded and alluded to her own ignorance of music.

 

“Oh, Mr. Bernstein, who is the composer?"

 

And so as not to embarrass her, he replied,

 

“Beethoven."

 

The old woman continued to display a total lack of musical appreciation.

 

“Oh, I see. Is he still composing?"

 

Bernstein could only shake his head in disbelief,

 

“No Madame. He’s decomposing!"

     Decomposing indeed!

     Dreamers cannot afford to stagnate. “Stuckness” is a Strong Foe. I speak of the man who, having gone to sleep with his feet in a wet gray mixture, wakes up to find out it’s concrete! It can happen to the best of us.

     I know of no other factor or tendency that contributes to Stuckness than selfishness or self-reflection. That inner absorption fills up our time to the exclusion of everything else. Yes, I’ve met people like that, and I’ve been there more times than I care to admit.

    Self-absorption and double-mindedness are murderers. They kill momentum and the very will to excel. They spread their unsuspecting tentacles around the necks of those who entertain them.

    I’ve met those self-reflective, self-absorbed people. Depression and anxiety are the order of the day. Nothing kills innovation or ambition more than self-absorption. Nothing prevents us impacting others more than this quality (or lack thereof).

    Dreamers and Dream Champions (those who inspire others to dream) depend on that almost orgasmic quality of Far-sighted Giving of themselves. This is, that kind of empathetic giving of time, efforts and finances that has an ultimate result in mind.

    I think of an absolutely magnificent aircraft named Voyager. Richard Ruetan was inspired to dream a dream that others considered not only frivolous, but impossible. It began as theory and, over time, theory took on reality. Never in the course of the 20^th century, albeit man had landed on the Moon, had an aircraft circumnavigated the globe without stopping. That was his Dream, and this Dreamer would not be denied.

    Dick Ruetan set out to raise funds for his Quest from among various well-established companies. These attempts proved relatively futile; primarily because no one wanted to paint their logo on a vehicle that was ¾ fuel! You see, every void within the fuselage and wings were filled with it. This was a One of a Kind experimental aircraft. Apparently, visions of a flaming disaster prevented very many companies from lending an ounce of support.

     But this pioneer visionary would not be denied.

     He began to solicit funding from common people, and so like the historic fundraiser that renovated The Statue of Liberty, nickels, dimes and dollars flowed in from across our great country. And what is so wonderful, so virtually orgasmic (oops, there’s that word again), is that The First Dreamer set the stage for Subsequent Dreamers. For every Big Dream is dependent on the accomplishment of Smaller Incremental Dreams.

    One man sent our Visionary a letter that read: 

 

    “Mr. Ruetan, enclosed is $2.00. Don’t laugh! I skipped lunch."

 

    Now that may not inspire you, but these ten words bring tears to my eyes. Maybe it’s a dim comparison, but it reminds me of the little widow who put her two mites in the treasury. She, too, was a Dreamer in her time.

     But now The Rest of the Story. Richard went on to build Voyager, and he inspired thousands to dream right along with him. On a particular day in 1984, this very unusual aircraft rolled down the runway. It’s seemingly flimsy wings drooped with fuel, hanging within a foot of the tarmac. With tedious, but steadily increasing speed it moved towards the end of the pavement, and… took off!

     It was a flight for the record books. Nothing remotely like this had ever been done before. And Dick Ruetan and Jeena Yeager soared into the annals of history. They did it! This little Airplane That Could made use of every possible tailwind. The crew gained special permission to fly over third world and communist countries. Every trick in the book, and then some were expended. 216 hours and 25,000 miles later, Voyager reached it’s destination, and landed with virtually no fuel remaining!

     I don’t know about you, but stories like this inspire me to be great. They woo me away from complacency. They remind me that man was meant to dream, and Dream Big! This constant self-reflectiveness that our culture encourages is a killer; a Killer of Dreams. We were meant to look up.

     There is a particular breed of horse. Oh, I’m not talking about the Arabian or Quarter horse, but it’s just as real as these. There’s One that has been nicknamed “Star Gazer”. This is That Kind of Horse that has been reigned in a few too many times. He has felt the bit in his mouth more than he cares to feel or endure it. 

 

    The remedy… look up at the stars.

    And so he does, and he does and he does. This pony holds his head up, and points his eyes to the sky. I think these beautiful creatures have a lot to teach us. God calls us to be Star Gazers; to dream dreams that were never drempt. To fulfill dreams that were originally dreamed on our behalf by none other than the Creator of the Universe. As my former pastor had the habit of saying,

 

   “Think of that!"

 

(By William McDonald, PhD. "A Dream Book" Chap. 7)