From The Storyteller
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Hello All: Writing this story revealed the process that made much of what I thought impossible, happen. Enjoy. Doug
Dreams “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”, spoken by Mohandas Gandhi, who led the nonviolent movement that won India’s independence from British Rule in 1947. This quote points to something that definitely describes my personal approach to change. At first, it begins with a nudge I try to ignore, but it won’t go away and try as I might, the nudge keeps returning. That is when I begin laughing at the very idea of me following up on the nudge. After the laughter, I find myself fighting the nudge by refusing to take action, which is my last futile attempt to prevent the nudge from becoming a dream. Once those nudges become dreams, things happen. I graduated college, graduated law school, practiced law for 26 years, changed careers and graduated seminary; then I spent 17 pastoring churches before retiring to spend the next five years writing short stories. All of which is absurd for an ADHD dyslexic kid, who hated school and graduated in the top 60% of his high school class. Build my own house, absurd. I didn’t even own a hammer until I was 26. Live on and sail a 36ft sailboat off a small island in the Gulf of Mexico, absurd. I didn’t even own a dingy until age 50. Finding that perfect life partner after two failed marriages, absurd. NOTE: Today, 9/13, is our 37th anniversary, and they’ve been the greatest years of my life. A dream might only begin with a nudge, but dreams give way to possibilities, and with possibilities comes graduations, houses, sailing, and a 37th anniversary. I smiled when I found that Gandhi’s words ended with “Then you win.” Moral: Feel the nudge and dream the absurd, the results might surprise you. |