"You may say I'm a dreamer..."

Last night was a wonderful night of thinking. A short conversation with my boyfriend spiraled into me dreaming and thinking up a storm the entire night. And that's where it all started - dreaming. I have this amazing capacity to dream. I guess I owe my imagination some credit for that one. When I dream, I think in wild colors, details, and everything is extraordinary. I guess it makes sense that the subtitle for my blog is "I can see that you've got quite a mind for your age" - a quote from Suessical, the musical that's always stuck out to me. And I started to think of all the dreams I have. Yes some of them are outrageous, some more logical, and realistic. But it doesn't really matter how crazy they may seem. Lots of people have had crazy dreams that came true. In fact, if you think about all great people who have made a change in the world, their dreams, at the time, could have been considered crazy, impossible. Yet they happened. They came true. Their dreams were realized. And that leads me to say that anythings possible.

Now I understand that it's important to be clear about reality and to be a big girl who knows responsibility and knows where the natural limits lie. But I still think there's no harm in dreaming. Reality can be, well, dull sometimes. Why should I satisfy myself with that? Why shouldn't I think up all the possibilities that may possibly come to be? For example, I'm very excited about my summer stock job this summer. I'm grateful to have been given this opportunity and I know I'm going to have a blast and learn a lot. But at the same time I can't help but believe that it's only the beginning of a very long, wonderful, hard, but rewarding journey. Basically, it's the beginning of the rest of my musical theater life, and I'm just as excited about the rest of that life as I am about this upcoming job.

On a more somber note, and this is what I thought about for a long time last night, I dream of peace and tolerance. Now I know that to a lot of people that sounds corny, innocent, and ignorant, but to me it sounds like a wish and a dream. I recognize that the world is a cruel place. I understand that even though I  may have strong feelings about how people should be able to get along and live peacefully alongside each other, not everybody agrees with me. In fact, I would dare to guess that a majority of the world's population probably doesn't believe that everybody should be able to tolerate the differences among cultures, religions, and races. I would assume (although I could be wrong) that there are a lot of people who don't mind living in a world filled with war and hate and inequalities. Well I do mind. I care. And it upsets me that this is the world we live in.

I wish I could see a future with a different world. A world more tolerating. I'm not asking for everybody to love everybody. Even I dislike certain people. What I'm asking for is tolerance. Understanding that people are just people. I'm asking for the ability to live next door to somebody and just get along. Live peacefully and not hate. Dislike is a lot different from hate.

I had a creative vision last night. I want to choreograph a piece to John Lennon's "Imagine." I want my dancers to represent different groups of people: Israelis, Palestinians, Straight, Gay, White, Black - and maybe I'll come up with more but that's what I have right now. I want them to dance in harmony. To show that it is indeed possible to live side by side with someone who is different from you. To show that we are all members of the human race. We're all people.

I have so many thoughts and so many dreams and I am passionate about a lot of things. But I'm also a coward. When someone disagrees with me it's really hard for me to stand my ground, remain calm, and fight for what I believe in. Maybe that's why I love this blog so much. First of all, I know how many readers I have and even though it's a lot more than I thought, it's still not a whole lot of people. Secondly, if anybody comments something that I don't like I can choose to ignore it or remove it from my page. I understand that people are going to disagree with me. I'm just not very good at defending my point of view without getting angry or upset. I guess it's a good thing that I'm not going to law school. It makes me nervous for the upcoming presidential elections. I know that there will be a lot of talk around campus and among my friends and such. But who knows? Maybe it'll give me an opportunity to gain some more confidence in standing my ground and standing up for what I believe in.

Changing direction for a bit, last night on So You Think You Can Dance, there were a few dancers who really touched me: Sam Shreffler who had the courage to get up onstage despite being on the autistic spectrum. And what was so beautiful was the way movement freed him. Although he is not a technically advanced dancer it didn't matter. You could tell that he just loved to move and express himself through movement. The encouragement that Nigel gave him was inspiring and heart warming. Also, Jarrell who was there because he wanted his Mom to be able to see him dance before she went blind.  It just reminds you to always be grateful for what you have and to live every moment like it's your last. And lastly, Bree, the 29 year old mother who is going back to dancing after having two adorable children. I don't know what was more inspiring, seeing this woman go back to follow her dream, or seeing the admiration her two children had for her. Not to mention her precious little daughter who kept saying "my turn, my turn" and who indeed did get her turn to dance onstage.