Dreaming with My Eyes Wide Open
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, author, international political figure
A little girl born deaf and blind and unable to speak for years, grew up to become an internationally known author and educator. [Helen Keller]
In his junior year at Harvard, a young man with a Huckleberry Finn grin quit school to follow his dream to make computers accessible to individuals. His company now employs more than 78,000 people worldwide and has revenues of over $51 billion dollars as of June 2007. And still counting. [Bill Gates]
Yet some dreams do not come true. That’s when ones mettle is revealed. Geraldyn “Jerrie” Cobb, a pilot’s daughter and student at Oklahoma City Classen High School, earned her private pilot’s license at age 16. At 18, she earned her Commercial Pilot’s license; her Flight Instructor’s Rating was awarded soon after. Jerri, winner of the Amelia Earhart Gold Medal of Achievement and Amelia Earhart Memorial Award, named Woman of the Year in Aviation, and awarded the Harmon International Trophy for “The Worlds Best Woman Pilot” by President Nixon at a White House ceremony, was also honored by France and Ecuador as an aviatrix. In 1960, Jerri was chosen by the Mercury Astronaut Selection Team to be the only woman to successfully pass all three phases of Mercury astronaut tests. Jerrie was promised she would be an early go. However, NASA required that astronauts have military jet test pilot experience. At that time, military women were not permitted to fly. Later, she testified in Congress about women’s abilities to be astronauts.
Unfortunately, Astronaut John Glenn – who later flew in space while in his 60’s, testified that “men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes,” and women do not. A year later, Russia put a woman into space. At age 67, Jerrie still flies professionally, winging over mountains and primitive territories in Ecuador, and is in great shape. She is encouraged by Sen. Glenn’s recent flight.
Today, she still believes in her dream and says she is ready and willing to fly in space any day, any time, thank you very much.
Meditation for the Day
“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’” George Bernard Shaw, author, playwright, philosopher
Action for the Day
Today and tomorrow I will give myself the gift of dreaming with eyes wide open — and large or small, I will allow myself to respect and follow my dreams.
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