Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dreamed a Dream: “I have Never been Given a Chance Before…”

Every week I look for something to emotionally shake me up. Something that I hope if shared with those who read my commentaries will enjoy and appreciate. On occasion these dissertations of feelings morph into rants - but I like to describe them as truth that bleeds.

To help diversify my writings I decided, with suggestive criticism, to search for inspiration via the news. Surprisingly, I have not come up short. Day after day. Month after month, I have been successful at filling the body of an email with stories that I simply describes as Touching, Truly Touching.

Well, this week after only three days I have been blessed. The blessing came in the form of something unattractive. Something I would have never thought could lift my spirits. That thing is/was in the form of a double-chinned white woman. This drastically unassuming woman has blown my mind. She definitely was not a person I would have stopped to chat with. I would have rudely passed her on the street just like the majority of us Americans and Europeans. And, why would we have walked on by? Because she is not what our cultures have labeled as pretty.

Hopefully, the YouTube video you are about to watch (along with 8 million plus people from around the world) will give you a lift, challenge you to re-think the characteristics you have attached to beauty, and encourage you to just give someone (a random person) a chance despite their looks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I can’t stop watching the video. I can’t stop tearing up. Just read the lyrics of the song (below). Yes…, life has killed the dream so many have dreamed. In this case, a dream may just come true!

Shared by Brian E. Payne.

"There was a time when men were kind. When their voices were soft. And their words inviting. There was a time when love was blind. And the world was a song. And the song was exciting. There was a time. Then it all went wrong. I dreamed a dream in time gone by. When hope was high. And life worth living. I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid. And dreams were made and used and wasted. There was no ransom to be paid. No song unsung, no wine untasted. But the tigers come at night. With their voices soft as thunder. As they tear your hope apart. And they turn your dream to shame. He slept a summer by my side. He filled my days with endless wonder. He took my childhood in his stride. But he was gone when autumn came. And still I dream he'll come to me. That we will live the years together. But there are dreams that cannot be. And there are storms we cannot weather. I had a dream my life would be. So different from this hell I'm living. So different now from what it seemed. Now life has killed the dream I dreamed."