Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 December 2007 09:28:08
Once upon a time there was a dreamer who often reflected upon how life could be different. The dreamer was out of sink with modern life and sometimes an ickle wierd with her ideas. The dreamer was also tied to the reality of what is and so her dreams would float away. Sometimes she looked at the dream catchers her friends had hanging in their rooms and wished some of her dreams could be caught or she could share her dreams with people who could make them reality. As it was the dreamer generally just dreamed and sometimes got a little down that she couldn't make her dreams become reality.
The dreamer would pick up paperback books every so often, written by other dreamers - dreamers who people would listen to. She picked up their dreams and dreamt them into her world. These were dreamers who were starting to make dreams come true, but the dreamer realised that these dreamers weren't like her. These dreamers were generally men, with excellent communication skills and that ickle something she knew existed called a charismatic personality. She wished that her fairy god mother would come and sprinkle over a little of that, rather than the grit which she'd been given to help her dreams grow. Still she was grateful for their dreams because they gave her ideas, challenges and hope.
The dreams she had were sometimes tied to the view of the world that the proper grown ups had, but even then they weren't quite. The main dreams that the dreamer had were these:
1. That she could find a group of people to buy a house with. Not a house where everybody lived on top of each other, but a house like she's once read about in a book called Mustard Seed vs. McWorld by Tom Sine. A community where everybody had their own distinct space but where there was also a central area where people could chill together if they wanted. Basically like sheltered accomodation or student halls but for all ages (and for those with or without children). A place where households could emerge in all their diversity.
2. That the institution she was part of would stop trying to maintain itself by competing (unintentionally) with the local community and rather than trying to mirror services local businesses were offering and just being another provider that they would connect with the local community. She knew other dreamers had this dream to, but couldn't quite remember the names of their books.
3. She dreamt of a world where profit and competitiveness didn't mean a loss of service, a lack of trained staff, a culture where people worked beyond their contracts just to maintain the minimum. A world where people had time to produce good resources and be creative. Lots of people seemed to have this dream and she was a little unsure on why it never quite happened.
The dreamer was tainted with the desires of the heart and wanted these dreams to come true for her. However, she also wanted these dreams to come true for others because the dreamer knew she was a lucky one. She had been blessed with a family who had supported her when the grit had been sprinkled. A Christian household (a church) who cared what happened to her and whom she could call on when real life was getting out of control. She had been able to go through life collecting strange certificates which provided some kind of currency; she had a daughter who understood the need for mum to work beyond the hours she was in that place called work and was generally really sensible about it. She had a job which meant she could afford to pay something called rent (although she would never be able to afford that thing called a mortgage anymore). She had been able to fill in the forms she'd needed to when she was struggling with life and been articulate enough, (and fortunate enough to get the right professionals) to ensure she didn't become an institutionalised out patient when life got particularly strange. She knew she was blessed because many with the same characteristics as her weren't so blessed. They had to struggle so hard to survive they couldn't dream anymore because dreaming became dangerous. She knew she had to somehow dream for them aswell.
Her dreams were generally based on implementing a book she'd got. Some people thought it was a fairy story, others thought it was about the future when people were no more but she thought it was for now, whether now was where she was or somewhere in the past or the future. Sometimes her dreams would be wrong and not be what the story was really about, but well she knew it was not for the dreamer to worry about. Her job was to dream.