Today, I am thankful for holding out hope that dreams do come true.
Although our medical knowledge of human biology has significantly increased in the last century, we still have so much to learn about the our physiology. Take sleep for instance. During sleep, the decrease in use of oxygen by some of our vital organs allows for energy to be diverted to the growth of new cells in our muscle, bone, or bone marrow. Our dormant period is also the time for tissue repair and peptide/protein formation. Interestingly, many of us think about sleep as the time our brain rests, and although there is some truth to this point, it is not entirely a period of cerebral inactivity. Sleep is also an active period during which our neurons undergo critical processing, restoration, and strengthening. During sleep, these neuronal cells are actually working to solidify and consolidate memories we have gathered during our hectic day. Although we take in an incredible amount of information during the active periods of our day, much of this information is not processed and stored until sleep takes hold. While we sleep, the process of consolidation occurs, wherein the information gathered during our many interactions during the wake periods of the day gets transferred from its tentative short-term state into longer-term memory. So, healthy sleep is required each and every day because we need to afford the brain the consolidation time it requires to take it all in.
All that said, we do not fully comprehend why we progress through the various stages of sleep. Even more so, we do not fully comprehend the true purpose or the content of our dreams. This unusual progression of ideations, images, and emotions that we seem to encounter during the sleep period of rapid eye movement (REM) occurs on average 3 to 5 times a night, with some lasting only seconds to others as long as 30 minutes. What causes dreams to occur? What role do dreams serve? And why do we feel so compelled to analyze their meaning? So fascinated are humans with dreams that we even have a name for the scientific study of the phenomenon – oneirology. In fact, we all aspire to have the pleasant ones in lieu of the nightmarish variety.
Sadly, we remember only a small handful of the dreams we actually have. On rare occasion, we experience an event in our actual lives that conjures up a memory of a prior dream. These déjà vu moments often leave us pondering whether our dreams can predispose events to occur. If indeed we could will certain fortuitous events to become reality through our dreams, I guess I would most desire that the dreams suggested by a 44-year old spiritual leader nearly 6 decades ago would indeed ring true.
On this day (Aug 29) in 1963, six different civil rights organizations commissioned a March on Washington with the intent of calling national attention to the plight of African Americans subject to poor education services and lackluster public accommodations as a direct result of our then-accepted national policy of segregation. The event was specifically designed to highlight how, despite 1963 being the centennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the dream of a unified nation was not yet a reality.
After the one-mile march of nearly a quarter of a million participants from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph and the recently deceased John Lewis spoke on the steps of that great monument, while signers like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed for the massive crowd. However, the highlight of the day was reserved for a young, up-and-coming minister from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. His famous speech, entitled I Have a Dream, spoke the failings of the US government to live up to its social contract outlined in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In his words, America had failed on its ‘promissory note’ to those of African American descent, as had been ascribed in Lincoln’s famous affirmation of 1863. However, instead of calling for physical violence, this pastor called for black and white citizens to peacefully unite in harmony to continue towards the path of integration, even beyond just that single day. He called for the fulfillment of his dream – one wherein his own four children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. One where those of different color can sit together at a dinner table to join in a meal without prejudice or enmity. One that ensured the fulfillment of our forefathers’ creed that all are created equal.
If I could have just one dream, I’d also like to aspire to the one that Martin Luther King Jr. called for on that hot summer August day in 1963. I still hold out that we will all see this dream become a reality and not just the figment of one’s imagination.
We might know exactly why we dream at night, but I think we have a clear and cogent understanding about why we dream during the day.
Comments