The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
Barbara Kingslover
Saturday, I attended a meeting at the home of a good friend. There, I was introduced to Dr. Anteneh Roba an Ethiopian born ER physician currently working in Houston Texas. The purpose of the meeting was to become acquainted with Dr. Roba's dream of creating a Children's Hospital and a cutting edge Neonatal Care Center in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2006 he founded the Amsale Gessesse Memorial Foundation which is dedicated to this cause.
Saturday, I attended a meeting at the home of a good friend. There, I was introduced to Dr. Anteneh Roba an Ethiopian born ER physician currently working in Houston Texas. The purpose of the meeting was to become acquainted with Dr. Roba's dream of creating a Children's Hospital and a cutting edge Neonatal Care Center in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2006 he founded the Amsale Gessesse Memorial Foundation which is dedicated to this cause.
Dr. Roba shared with us some amazing statistics that helped us understand why this facility is needed. There are just under 80 million people living in Ethiopia and there is only one major hospital. The hospital is unable to meet the demands of the Country, especially the needs of its children. The infant mortality rate is staggering. Newborn children are dying from causes that are easily treatable here in the United States. It was a moving presentation and I highly encourage you to visit his site and to consider a contribution to this worthy cause. They need a lot of different things. They can use your time as well as your money. It is a big dream that will only become a reality as it is shared by many.
Even though I am asking you to consider supporting this foundation, that is not the purpose of this post. I am amazed a Dr. Roba's passion for his dream. It is an incredibly large dream. One that will ultimately require him to raise over $120,000,000.00. That is a lot of money for one man. He reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Nathaniel Burns. He said, "make no small plans for they have not the power to stir the souls of man." Dr. Roba is dreaming big and is determined to make this happen. I have no doubt that he will make it happen. I found it very energizing to be in his presence. I felt his passion for the people of Ethiopia and this project. Many of us in the room recognized that there is something that we can do to help and we were inspired to become a part of his dream.
I thought about my own dreams and the actions I am taking to make sure they become a reality. One of things that I remembered by watching Dr. Roba is that it takes one person or a small group of people to come up with big idea, but it takes many more to turn it into a reality. As I thought about this, I began to consider my efforts in communicating my dream to others. I wondered if I am being as bold as I need to be and doing all that I can to share my vision and enroll the help I need to make it a reality. I know that the real power comes when we can get other people to see what we see and I concluded that I am not doing all I can do.
Accelerate Your Dreams
My dreams are big too. Dr. Roba showed me how to accelerate the fulfillment of those dreams. He came out from Houston to visit his Aunt; my friend Mesrak. He asked her if she would call some of her friends and host a gathering so he could share with us his dream and educate us on what needs to be done and how we can help him do it. Neither Mesrak nor Dr. Roba felt any kind of fear in asking us to come and see this presentation. They did not feel like they were bothering us, they were very clear that they were sharing something of great importance. This made me feel very confident that he could do what he was talking about doing.
Many people dream big dreams. Very few ever see them become a reality because they dream them and then never do anything about them. That is why the quote I used to start this post is so important to me. Notice that it says the very least I can do is to dream. Anybody can do that. In fact we all do it every day. But the most we can do is go to work to make that dream a reality. If I want that to happen, I have to shape my life around my dream. I must live inside of it as if it is already a reality. I must share my dream with others in a way that they too can believe that it is reality. Then, it will become a reality. I am not entirely sure how it works, but I know it does.
Some call it the law of attraction. I call it faith. To me, faith is the substance of hope. It is a belief that what I focus on will become my reality. It may not always turn out exactly the way I see it to begin with, but if I focus on it, then I believe it will happen. That is why I must be flexible and open. The vision always expands when things are set in motion so I must be ready to adapt to what I discover on the journey to success.
What About Your Dreams?
Someday soon, I will use this space to share with you some of my bigger dreams. Today, I want to ask you about your dreams. I want to know what you are doing to make them a reality? I want to know who inspires you? I want to know the steps you are taking to communicate your dreams so that you can enroll others? I want you to think about what you are doing so you can take what you are doing to the next level.
If you feel inspired, please comment below, or give me a call or send me an email. Think about it and talk to those around you who can help make it a reality. I don't know what will happen, but I guarantee you it will be a whole lot more than what is happening now.
You ain't seen nothin yet!
