If people fall into two categories — dreamers and doers, I’m a dreamer. That’s good.
Or, if like fish, people fall into two categories — dead and alive, I’m not floating downstream, which dead fish do, their final destiny dictated by the mainstream current. I swim upstream. That’s good.
Experience has taught me that swimming upstream, not being a lemming swimming with the motley mainstream mob, but following my own dreams, provides the only hope of achieving success.
Even though society’s downstream mainstreamers view upstream swimmers as pariahs, I prefer using my own intellect to make life’s choices. Otherwise, I risk being guided by others rather than guiding myself, and becoming a dead-fish non-dreamer, moving along with the multitude, meandering as the mainstream mandates. Then, I would become an echo. Instead, I choose to be a voice — perhaps unheeded — but still a voice.
Sometimes, my daughters remonstrate, “Dad, become enlightened like the rest of us; individuality isn’t popular in modern times.” To that I say, “Hooey!”
There was a time when, like my daughters, I thought that dealing with everyone the same way — fairly and impartially — was right, but years in college classrooms has taught me otherwise.
There is nothing fair and impartial about treating everyone fairly and impartially. In fact, doing so is neither fair nor impartial. Whether in or out of the classroom, I make sure that the treatment others get from me is what they earn and deserve, which, in turn, I expect from them.
This mindset is not well received by some of my students. Within a week’s time at the beginning of every semester, I’ve identified those youngsters who honestly believe that just showing up for class is good enough, that homework is unimportant, and that a passing grade is a given.
My response is to weed out these non-competitive duds and to help the winners — those who embrace competition. To mainstream-minded pedagogues who view this method with disdain, I say what I said to my daughters: “Hooey!”
Fortunately, some students still dream, notably a young African-American mother and wife with whom I enjoyed a heart-warming conversation recently.
When I asked why she seemed to be in pain sometimes and had difficulty taking notes, she answered, “That’s when my lupus is really bad.” Her affliction often causes such severe joint pain that meeting her daily responsibilities can be accomplished only by exerting superhuman willpower. But she’s a dreamer. Her dream is to earn a medical degree in pediatrics.
“Despite lupus, I will become a doctor,” she told me. “The competition will be stiffer for me because of my illness, but I see that as positive, not negative. The mountain I must climb to reach my goal is higher, and reaching the top will be more difficult, but when I do, my struggle will leave me better prepared to serve my patients, and more importantly, to provide a better life for my family.”
Godspeed, young lady. People like you are doubly blessed: They are both dreamers and doers.
Jimmy Reed is an Oxford, Mississippi resident, Ole Miss and Delta State University alumnus, Vietnam Era Army Veteran, former Mississippi Delta cotton farmer and ginner, author, and retired college teacher.
This story is a selection from Jimmy Reed’s latest book, entitled The Jaybird Tales.
Copies, including personalized autographs, can be reserved by notifying the author via email (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)).
