In 1997 I assigned a project to my students at McNair Middle School. I asked them to find a quotation about success, and to write about someone who became a hero and changed the world. We then gathered the stories into an anthology.
This week I heard students in the Satellite High School string camp play the music from “Star Wars.” In four days, these talented musicians prepared and performed three pieces from John Williams’ music.
In this anthology, I found an entry by a student, Ryan FitzPatrick. I have no idea whether Ryan is still local or how his life has turned out, but his short essay reveals how dreams are born. The quote he chose was: “There is no security on earth–only opportunity.” This is what he wrote:
“George Lucas deserves to be noted. He created a dream of flying around in space. He used Star Wars to create that dream. Now we think that space is neat, but it’s more usual. I mean we don’t think it as special now or even different than the people first thought about.
“He was the first person who took space, a place where no one knew much about, and made it into a movie that people still love and watch. At that time, he made something where no one really thought anything like that could happen. People took this as an interesting dream that could never really happen.
At that time, the space program was just starting. Now, that dream he saw so long ago is becoming more realistic as we send more and more people into space. The dream is now coming closer and closer to true. But even now, the dream is still a dream and for a while it will be. But it still fun to dream even if the dreams are starting to come true. Star Wars is a very famously known movie.”
Ryan is right to learn that dreams have to be imagined before they can be realized, and once they are realized, the dreams merely lead to others. I call this possibility dreaming. When we take one step, it often leads to others.
It was fun to see students discover others’ stories. I wonder where they are now and what they have discovered for themselves in the world of dreaming big. For now, it’s been fun today reading through their middle school writing about heroes, success, and encouraging them to become heroes themselves.
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