We all dream, at least according to the 30 second cursory “research” I just did on the interweb. Much of what we dream about is immediately forgotten, either too insignificant or fleeting to leave a lasting impression on us. And that might not be a bad thing. When I was a kid, I had a recurring dream about an individual I called the “Rugga Man”. Why the Rugga Man? I haven’t the foggiest notion, but thanks for asking. This individual had a large, round blue head and was always dressed in a black tux. And one time he made me fly around his apartment. Not surprisingly, these dreams were somewhat terrifying to a young child. Fifty plus years later, I still vaguely remember them.
This is not the type of dream to which I refer. The type of dream I want to speak to is more of an aspiration or desire; it is a yearning to see something realized, either in our own life or the life of another. It can range from the more mundane, like always having more money than month. Or it can be fantastical, beyond the laws of physics, like being able to park the car in a spotless garage. Far out, right? That said, this type of dream can interrupt our sleep, and also distract us in our waking hours. It can cause us to reorder our priorities, to build into our lives knowledge, strength, habits, and practices that move us along the road to the fulfillment of that dream. Or at the very least, it could compel us to reconsider our late night snack choices. If allowed, it can become an obsession, even to the detriment of others and ourselves.
Enter Larry Walters. You’ve probably never heard of him, but for a brief time in the early 80’s, he was a bit of a celebrity. You see, he became famous for living out his dream of twenty years. Long and fascinating story short, Larry wanted to lazily float over his home in California by attaching weather balloons to a lawnchair. Equipped with some sandwiches, adult beverage, and a pellet gun, he planned to slowly rise to an altitude of thirty feet, enjoy the view, and return to terra firma by shooting the balloons. 16,000 feet later, his unexpectedly rapid ascent was interrupting flight paths into LAX. He finally mustered up enough courage to puncture the balloons with his pellet gun and descended. Onto power lines, temporarily blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood. A reporter supposedly asked him why he did what he did. Larry allegedly responded, “A man can’t just sit around.” While the wisdom of Mr. Walter’s actions could rightly be questioned, his response was spot on.
Are you (am I) content to just sit around?
(Click “Stand On Firmer Ground” for a deeper look into A Man Can’t Just Sit Around)