It occurred to me that a lot of people have stopped dreaming. You might as well go into a
cocoon. You gotta dream. I once had dinner with Viktor Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning. The first part of his book is a journal of his time spent in a Nazi concentration camp.

He maintained that people who had no hope, no dream of getting out, soon succumbed to the devastation of the camps.

On the other hand, he, like precious few, dreamt of the time of his release, and this plus his belief in a Higher Power allowed him to survive the camp. I just finished reading an account of a doctor couple who were pulled out of the rubble following the earthquakes in China. She was pulled out after 3 days. He was found after 6 days.

Their families had given up hope. She attributed their survival to attitude. “We tend to be very confident, very positive and very persistent people.” You think they dreamt of being rescued?
So what do you dream about? Many years ago as part of a university study, we had to
interview families who had moved from Regent Park.

The professor doing the study was particularly interested in the aspirations (dreams if you like) of the young people in these families. I was astonished at the responses I received from these young teens. The vast majority had aspirations that were completely unrealistic.

Professional hockey player, movie or rock star was the most frequently mentioned aspirations. I think when you walk into a casino, you dream of winning a jackpot. I know of one lady who actually won a jackpot of over $25,000 (unfortunately not related). She continued to go to her favourite casino weekly until, I am sure, all the money was given back. Did she continue dreaming of even bigger jackpots?

I dream of catching the biggest pickerel in the lake I frequent. If I knew that so many times I was going to get skunked, I would probably take up another hobby. When I played hockey, up until age 50, I always dreamt of scoring the winning goal. Speaking of sports, I dream the Leafs and Generals go all the way to the top. Otherwise why watch or attend their games? I dream of one day taking up golf again. I also dream that green fees cost less.

I dream that I will lose weight. Otherwise why am I spending money by going to my gym? I dream of winning the lottery, otherwise why buy tickets, other than to contribute to a worthy cause? I did win in the local ‘Cash for Cancer Lottery’. It was a smaller prize, but kept my dreams alive for next year’s draw. I dream of writing a book.

Entering public service again as a trustee or municipal councillor has been an occasional dream. I dream that one of these weekly columns will be noticed by a large daily paper, and I will be hired to write for them as well as continue on with The Oshawa Express. The people I have known who got involved with drugs, in my opinion had precious few dreams, so for them, they chose to escape reality with their substance of choice.

Many of those who recover, dream of helping others with their addictions. I frequent some ‘help wanted’ sites dreaming of finding a ‘dream job’. I also frequent the ‘obits’ and dream that my name never shows up. Want to share your dreams? Tell me at “BillFoxExpress@hotmail.com”