I was in my dentist’s office yesterday, having my broken tooth repaired and thinking about bits falling off, the inevitability of aging, how someone told me it was all downhill from 60, etc etc. Underneath is the constant current of Trump/Ford/reactionary right/fascism/etc like a monotone in a discordant note. You know, like most of us do these days. Oh, and never forget the high shrieking of the environment, trod upon and crushed.

And then this song came on. And I got to thinking – when did we stop dreaming about the future? I know, I’m an old bag with many dreams behind me, but I see it in younger people, too, a sort of shift from “the universe has infinite possibilities” to plodding along, solving one small problem after another. Not daring to see the forest for the trees. Leadership seems to have been felled in the interest of management – bad management.

Elon Musk is an exception, but then he has so much money he can play now and imagine. (And how does someone get such money?) There are probably some poets and scientists and dreamers out there that look into the future, but they seem a bit thin on the ground these days. At least here, in developed North America.

I’m old enough to remember the 60’s back when they turned into the ’70s and hippies had been and gone and left their optimism around somehow, despite the Vietnam war, starvation in Africa, the USSR. People actually felt they had the power to make change – they sang raw songs of courage and making a stand.

And they dreamed. And fought. Carried banners. Volunteered to feed people and provide medical care and support others.

So tell me – are there dreamers still out there? People who think about the possibilities of productive change? Of saving the earth? Of healing killer diseases? Of reallocating wealth so that we all can survive and thrive?

Or are we really at the end of the line?

I love the song, “I dreamed a dream” from Les Mis, but I can’t help thinking we need to wrest our dreams from those roaring tigers and find our will to take chances again, to battle the oligarchy, to take those roaring dictators to heel. Perhaps it’s time to move together and make a stand for those who can’t speak for themselves. Maybe its time for this song…

Only no weapons. Let’s use Gandhi’s approach.  Let’s do some BIG conscientious objecting.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

PS: I do know Ghandi was mean to women, but I think we can take his message and use it for all genders.