“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do
it unless you imagine it.”
- George Lucas
One
of the greatest artistic masterpieces in the world is the Mount Rushmore
National Memorial, located in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, USA. The magnificent
mountain sculpture features the 60-foot faces of four great American
presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and
Abraham Lincoln - who represent the birth, growth, development and preservation
of the American nation.
What
I consider most interesting about this tourist attraction, however, was the
vision that propelled it. On a remarkable day in 1924, the brain behind the
project, Gutzon Borglum, while gazing
from a distance at Mount Rushmore (which was just a mere mountain as at then),
declared: “American history shall march along that skyline." Three years
later, he began the project that eventually took 14 years to complete.
Today, that history envisioned by Gutzon not only
marches but glows triumphantly, attracting multitudes of visitors, inspiring
thoughts of greatness, generating massive revenues, providing large-scale business
and employment opportunities – and, above all, serving as a compelling
testimonial to the power of DREAMS!
It
is not enough to discover your talent – you must envision where you want to
take that talent and where you want that talent to take you. This is what it
means to dream. Your dream is the picture of your future. It is the blueprint
for your destiny which you must continually set your mind upon until you
achieve it. This is why Thomas Edison says,
“Your dream today is the raw material with which God will construct your
tomorrow. If you do not have a dream,
you do not have a future”.
Every
great accomplishment begins with a dream. Every heroic deed, revolutionary
change and life-changing invention begins with the imagination of someone who
dared to dream. Rebecca Edwards, author of the “African Legends of Faith”
series, says: “The paintings of success are always drawn with the brush
of decision, the ink of determination and on the timeless plaque of human
hearts, if one can dare to dream”. Arthur Williams asserts: “If you can dream
it, you can become it; if you can imagine it, you can possess it; if you can
see it you can have it." Anatole France, the French poet, journalist and
novelist, adds: "Dream are like stars ...you may never touch them, but if
you follow them they will lead you to your destiny. To accomplish great things, we must not only
act, but also dream; not only plan but also believe."
