Dreams Do Come True!

I have been a speaker and trainer for quite a few years and I am always asked to speak to young people. On this particular occasion I was asked to speak to a group of high school seniors - and to motivate them! What I didn't know was that I was the last speaker of a whole day of speakers - many of whom were not really interested in connecting with these kids.

I walked into the gym and saw a sea of unhappy faces, the continuous hum of under the breath conversation greeted me as I climbed the stairs to the podium. I look out at this group of disgruntled youth and thought - "Dear God what can I say to them that will let them know that I care?"

I opened my mouth and before I could even think about my message the words came spewing out...... "I made a million dollars - how many of you would like to do the same?" Oh God, I thought - what have I done? Well, I had their attention - hands began waving madly in the air!

I looked again at the audience and shouted -"How many of you have a dream? If you do - I know the secret of making those dreams come true!" I couldn't believe what I had just done - sure, I had their attention - but what was I going to do as a follow up? I crossed my fingers, said a prayer and started to speak.

I told them the story of a young man, very much like the young men in this audience.......This young man had a dream.......he wanted to fly.... more than anything in the world he wanted to be a pilot. He was part of a school audience very much like the one I was speaking to....he was skeptical, but when the speaker asked if he would share his dream - he decided, what the
heck....it's worth a try. He traveled through the audience, jumped up on the stage, looked the speaker in the eye and said "You can make my dreams come true huh? I guess you must be my Fairy Godmother."

The speaker looked at the young man and then looked into the audience....and said a quick prayer asking for help in helping this young man who wanted to fly....

She said to the crowd "Who do you know that can help this young man learn to fly?" Think about it.....who do you know? All of a sudden hands started waving in the air as student after student realized they knew someone that might help this young man learn to fly!

The speaker said a quiet prayer and thanked God for his help, and she started pointing - one after another the students yelled out who they knew - one had a uncle in Air Cadets, one had a brother who was a pilot, one had a cousin who worked at a flying school......on and on sharing their knowledge,
helping a colleague.....Each time there was a connection the speaker looked at the young man and asked - "do you know this person?" and each time he would say yes, I've been in school with them for most of my life.

At the very back of the room, a hand went up and a young man said "My uncle is a potato farmer and he does the crop dusting - he offered me a job for the summer - he told me he'd teach me to fly - I don't want the job, you can have it!

There was pandemonium in the room - the young man couldn't believe his ears - he shouted to the young man at the back of the room, "Why didn't you tell me your uncle was a pilot and would teach you to fly".......the youngman at the back of the room shouted back "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to learn!" The two were best friends and had grown up together, yet each had never shared their dreams with each other!

The young people in the room all of sudden realized that dreams do come true...you just have to learn to ask for what you want and recognize how important it is to realize who you know.

You see the young man who wanted to fly - didn't think he had the money, the education or the opportunity....for him it was just a dream...........

I finished the story and I looked at my audience, and said - "I am your Fairy Godmother - Who has a dream?"

The young people in the audience began to raise their hands and they knew that I had just given them the secret to their success............Dreams Do Come True....you just need to know how to ask for what you want and be willing to share who you know!

I do workshops for youth - helping them achieve their goals. Rotary has given this group of young people a tremendous gift......because dreams can come true.

Donna Messer