The Impossible Dream

A rabbit with white eyes, wearing a waistcoat and pulling a watch from his pocket, running through a field of wildflowers isn’t something we find in nature. Alice was dreaming when she fell into Wonderland through the hole in the earth and realized, “I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today …” he was talking about the promise of America for all people in the New World.

I have been thinking about dreams and their meaning this week. We dream about experiences that have been emotional and vivid for us. We dream about and imagine those experiences and situations we desire or long to achieve.

As John Lennon imagined peace

Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace
You
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one

My mind has been thinking about dreaming as I have just returned from a sailing trip from the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland up along the East Coast to the New York Harbor. There is nothing unusual about such a journey during the month of June when the weather is glorious, and the coast is dotted with vessels of one kind or another. We crisscrossed with fishing boats, tugs pulling freighters, sail boats and military ships. I was sailing on the Impossible Dream Catamaran.

Mike Browne, a British paraplegic conceived of the vessel as he dreamed of navigating and sailing the world’s oceans in a wheelchair. When the catamaran was completed, Mike sailed on voyages across the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean. She was designed by architect Nick Baily and built by multi-Marine in 2002.

The vessel was purchased by Deborah Mellen, a businesswoman, paraplegic, and sailing volunteer at Shake-A-Leg in Miami, Florida to fulfill her own yearning to share her love for sailing with others in the disability community. Deborah funded the acquisition of the catamaran and together with Harry Horgan, the founder of Shake-A-Leg in Miami, Deborah founded the non-profit organization, Impossible Dream Inc.
The Impossible Dream spends the winter in Florida and in the early spring begins the sail up along the coast to Portland, Maine. Along the way, she stops in ports and working with hospitals, sailing organization and rehabilitation centers the Captain, Will Rey and First Mate, Paulina Belsky invite individuals who never thought they could sail onto the Impossible Dream. Everyone is encouraged to become a member of the crew for the day and challenged with an assignment.
It was a glorious adventure. As one who has limited experience sailing, I learned to tie knots that hold the fenders in place, steer the catamaran, keep hourly log notes, marking wind speed and water currents and straighten out the ropes as they are unwound from the wench.
I thought about dreams. The dreams of those who face barriers of one sort or another. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be paraplegic or qualaplegic. Sailing and being a member of the Impossible Dream team gave me a sense of what vision, determination and never giving up or giving in to the barriers placed in one’s paths can mean. Cross out the “im” and figure it out.

You can follow the Impossible Dream www.theimpossibledream.org