I HAVE A DREAM!

I love museums. While walking amongst the remains of different civilizations and varying eras in time I feel a kinship to all that has passed and a sense of incredible wonder at our human evolution.

Just the other day as I walked around the Nashville State Museum I felt transported to a time of cowboys and settlers, of soldiers in the American civil war; a time when women wore bonnets and had no rights, when a colored man was a slave, and when a horse was the most advanced method of transportation.

All this, just 150 years ago!

To then emerge into a bustling city street full of honking cars, women briskly walking to their jobs in business suits, and tall glass buildings reaching up to the sky was like emerging into a futuristic world.

I reeled from the amazement at human advancement. Our growth and progress astounding me for its breath and speed; the accelerated fast-forward of humanity.

And I felt fortunate, free, grateful to be alive in this time and place.

And I also felt a huge sense of possibility…and responsibility.

I thought, "Imagine what can be done in the next 150 years! Imagine what can be done and must be done in the next ten or twenty!"

That was the 'possibility' speaking.

The 'responsibility' part of the equation was in knowing that in this modern version of the world I do have a responsibility, we all have a responsibility; we can all make a difference in creating the reality that exists now and the reality that will will come about.

My personal vision does involve myself, but it is also a part of a larger vision that I hold; one that involves the trinity of myself, my community and the entire world.

I feel we are poised for a big change, on the verge of an immense and global shift that modifies what we know the world and society to be.

The present conditions offer a glimpse of what must be addressed; poverty, inequality of all kinds, the environment, the economic system, the reliance on war as an economic structure...and so much more.

The current global events also provide us with a glimpse of growing alterations in power and perspective; the political shifts in the Middle East, the new freedoms won by women (women in Saudi Arabia are finally participating in the vote!) the masses in London standing up and challenging authority...and so much more.

My vision, my dream, is that we will collectively realize not only the necessity, but also the advantageousness of a global community where the best of our humanity is celebrated and brought forth in all practical arenas.

Where we realize that freedom, a life of dignity and equality, food for all and health for all, a world where there is more balance in the distribution of power resources and where there is less greed, where race and sex is not a cause for bigotry, and where the interest of the environment we live in is as important as the currency we receive from harvesting it's materials.

Call me an idealist, a wishful thinker. Call the dream Utopia. BUT, I believe it is inside of us to create this, to live up to our own BEST HUMAN POTENTIALS and to unite in this common desire in order to forge a better world.

My dream is big, vast, and not easy to achieve…but.

I HAVE A DREAM!

As for 'why' do I want to be a Voices of Our Correspondents?

Well, that is an easier question to answer; I want to be a part of the change, a contributor to the building-blocks of the dream I hold, an empowered player with sane and good intentions.

The mentoring, editorial midwifing and training offered will allow me to hone this vision and develop a sounder literary voice through which to champion my dream.

It will also give a possibility to access a wider community of women to whom I can spread my crusade of creating profound change through developing a new foundation in the communication and relationship between the sexes, about which I wrote in my week 3 assigment, 'End the Battle of the Sexes'.

In short, I want to fulfill my responsibility in the best way I can.