In the midst of another day's news of political wrangling, the weakening dollar and a belated investigation into Blackwater, I found an interview with Dr. Wangari Maathai who spent the afternoon planting trees with children in Seattle.
Dr. Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace prize, travels the world and teaches people how to reclaim their neighborhoods, protect their water and grow a sustainable world one tree at a time. Her dream started in Kenya where she stood before bulldozers, went to prison and formed the Greenbelt Foundation. Her message can be read in her new book: "Unbowed: A Memoir" and viewed at www.democracynow.org in her October 1 interview.
Dr. Maathai, like every dreamer, is faced with the same challenge upon waking. How to make the dream real when there are bulldozers tearing through the rain forests and land developers buying up the green space? It can seem that the demons in our dreams will always win until we begin to empower ourselves by doing one thing a day, be it planting a tree, writing a letter, or serving a cup of tea to the neighbor with the noisy dog that kept us awake all night. Whether the task is facing the critical voice in our head, clearing the desk of last week's mail, or simply getting up to write that bit of a dream, we are reminded to take a breath and begin with what is right before us. Pick up the first envelope. Find the pen and paper. Keeping the big dream in mind, start with the first shovelful of earth.
Do what is Do-able. Make the dream real.