History, politics, isms, and prejudice aside, I believe that wonderful changes have occurred in our recent history — actually accelerating over the past 50 years. I also believe that the trend will continue. For those who think I’ve been smoking something illegal or have had my head resolutely buried in some form of “cybernetic sand” and wish to assert that nothing has changed socially, I would suggest that the process begins on a personal and oftentimes immeasurable level; within one’s self.

Racism is not the overriding factor in obstructing positive change. Nor is nationality, gender, culture, or religion. The “inertia” of too many people being too familiar—with pain, suffering, and hopelessness—is a far greater causative force, for said inertia requires that they do nothing differently, with regard to behavior or attitude, than they’ve always behaved. This is one of the most insidious aspects of race-based politics today, where historically disadvantaged and socially disenfranchised people demand that the system and others bend and change to accommodate them while self-righteously electing to maintain their familiar, sometimes unproductive, or no longer relevant ways of doing things. The only people who will experience any real change are those who were willing to change, meaning to enhance and add value to, themselves.

We are too familiar with being ready for calamity, disaster, indifference, hostility and upheaval. When it comes we are not surprised. We are not as familiar with cooperation, respect for various differences. When good things do happen, we tend not to believe it, or accept it with gratitude, grace, or humility.

We are not as familiar with seeing others and ourselves as slices and flavors of the same human pie, each a delectable morsel of consciousness that can give energy to build, or to destroy. And so, the answers to our collective ills are personal. They issue forth from within our own heart and mind. From what I can see, more people are making the conscious choice to explore better possibilities. And though the choices are individual, existing beyond our ability to legislate, it bodes well for us all.

Social tensions and lawlessness remain at a fever pitch in such places as Northern Ireland, Rwanda, post-apartheid South Africa, Zimbabwe, the Balkans, and other “hot spots” around the globe. We are still sometimes appalled at the senseless acts of rage and violence that persist in our cities and rural communities in North, Central, and South America. We hang our heads in shame when we see the poverty, despair and hopelessness in the eyes of various people on the African and Indian continents, in the Middle and Far East and in Southeast Asia. But each day things are getting better. The trend will continue as more people choose to take active steps to make more good change happen, not in some distant corner of the world in a nondescript time, but in one’s own "here" and "now."

Good Change is Available to Everyone

Each one of us is the author of our wonderful dreams, as we are our nightmares. We have equal power and opportunity to focus our mind and heart on either "pole" of the perception spectrum. As human beings, the “playing field” that consists of an active mind, a consciousness, perceptual ability, the power to learn, to change our familiar patterns of behavior, and the power to consciously direct our energies in a given manner or purpose, is already and has always been “level” amongst us.

While some readers will have a hard time swallowing that last thought, I will be the first to acknowledge that some people use their abilities more than others. Just why this is so is the $64,000 question. There could be as many different answers as there are readers of this essay.

It has occurred to me that much of the joy and meaning that we ultimately experience in life comes through our willingness to have a good time, essentially creating and experiencing good change, while discovering the rich diversity of experiences and environments that the planet invites us to “taste.”

As a youngster I enjoyed watching Lloyd Bridges on the TV show, Sea Hunt. Another program I enjoyed was Sky King, where the storyline revolved around a pilot with his own airplane. The air and the sea fascinated me. The freedom that these men demonstrated intrigued me. At the time these programs were airing as I grew up in Chicago, our family didn’t own a car. But we never considered ourselves deprived, nor underprivileged, or resent people who "had more" than us.

On our little black and white TV, I enjoyed watching shows like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, which was produced by Marlin Perkins, wishing that I could be in some of the exotic places that they traveled to each week. These men were doing what they loved, and getting paid too! Imagine that? Today, through photography and videography in addition to writing, I am finally beginning to follow their example. It has taken quite some time to be willing to take the risks involved with being on your own, following your own vision, making your own decisions, and financially self-sufficient (still working on that). But after spending most of my life working for someone else, this is a lot more fun.

It takes a lot of hard work to really have fun at life. But it has become quite apparent to me that suffering is even harder “work,” and much less satisfying.

Analysis of Group Disparities Yield Opinions, Not ‘Truths’

While it can also be a mitigating factor, socioeconomic ranking is not the overriding factor why one group, on the whole, has "more" or "less" stuff than another group. Neither is one's level of education, or “race” the main obstacle to realizing his or her wonderful dreams. I say this with all due respect to institutionalized racism that was not only the law of the land in the United States at one time, but whose ghosts remained in the spirit of certain people – on all sides of the racial spectrum – long after laws themselves were changed.

Much has indeed changed within the people since those times. Is it total or complete? No. But the absence of a total and complete eradication of racism is no reason not to celebrate and be grateful for the advances in human relations that have clearly happened.

Refusing to acknowledge growth by maintaining a guarded animus toward a perceived “enemy” keeps "guarded" individuals standing at opportunity’s doorstep. While they are welcome to enter, they will often try to carry their familiar negative attitude in as well. So equipped, such people invariably wear out their welcome. While it is always possible that one may have an epiphany and take full advantage of the opportunity, or even grit it out to a modicum of success even with the negative attitude, it is more common that their quest is halted, and blame for their perceived misfortune is liberally spread to everyone but the holder of the aborted dream.

Regardless of your skin color, nationality, or ethnic background there’s no place for a negative, hostile attitude when your intent is positive growth. Providing safe harbor for a negative attitude “dims” one’s inclination to dream wonderfully, dulls hope in its eventual realization, and stunts his or her opportunity to truly grow into full-fledged, well-adjusted human beings.

The negative attitude lessens the possibility of wonderful realization. Even if the individual succeeds in reaching or exceeding their wildest monetary hopes, they will not experience the true inner satisfaction that comes when your attitude and heart have finally been put in the right place.

The Power of Choice and Good Change Belongs to All

Each and every human being, of every color, of every background, has the innate ability to affect significant and meaningful good changes in his or her life. Furthermore, we have the ability to have a positive impact on others that we share our reality and world with.

I am not referring to changes, if any, that are involved when we gather together in groups to sing We Shall Overcome, shout “I Am My Somebody!” or find a mall to march on and listen to “leaders” pontificate. I am talking about day-to-day changes that are born of life-, love-, and harmony-affirming choices that are made when no one else is looking, but you.

Real change happens where there are no cameras around to mug into. Meaningful moments occur in such instances, perhaps through smiles exchanged with others that transformed another person’s momentary apprehension into ease.

In such anonymous, "brown bag" moments, a wall to a personally desired opportunity, that we may not have even known was there, may have thusly been taken down in that single positive glance or gesture. Yet, when looking “bad,” intimidating, frightening, or otherwise imposing is considered necessary for one’s survival, or to be accepted as “cool,” or when appearing disinterested in unfamiliar subjects is one’s rule rather than the exception, then the individual stands the risk of never knowing what true opportunities – to learn, understand, or gain meaningful new insights and experiences – are passing by unrealized.

Opportunities can be likened to gifts. They are presented to us when we are mentally and perceptually ready to handle them, to pay their costs (yes, opportunities require conscious thought and energy, so they have costs), and reap their potential reward. But we must make the choice to make the journey without benefit of any “prenuptial” guarantees.

Electing to be positive, even in instances where people have grown accustomed to negativity, essentially greases the path of the hopeful individual. It accelerates progress for all who sincerely desire to make progress, and agree to what good changes would actually constitute “progress.” Such choices wouldn’t make The 11 O’clock News however, except where the choice appears to have been the wrong one. Nonetheless, the impact can live on far beyond one’s memory of the actual event.

The Power of Positivism

Our problems are compounded when we blame someone or something else – racism, politicians, men (if you’re a woman), women (if you’re a man), the boss, the system, etc. – for our problems. When the problems tend to follow us wherever we go, even when the faces and names change, we tend to think that our assessment of the situation is the correct one. Well, it is correct, because by our attitudes, fears and actions, we create the atmosphere in which such situations can exist and even persist—for us. Our negative supposition may not be correct for someone else, who holds onto a different set of perceptions. The recurring negative situations that we experience with people can be changed, but only if we change—first.

The Effects of Self-Expectation

Genuine, high achievement has nothing to do with money. It has much more to do with one’s motive, vision, transformational initiative, and willingness to put sound and intelligent human principles above group allegiances. In my lifetime, Mahatmas Gandhi subscribed to such principles, as did Martin Luther King, and after his pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X.

This is where many of us fall off the wagon of transformational change when we are willing to rationalize justice in one way or another depending on the group affiliation of our favorite or most familiar “protagonists” and “villains.” When we condone human atrocities, such as murder, rape, famine, war, and other assaults against decency for reasons of color, nationality, or culture, then we propagate our collective dysfunction.

One cannot anticipate high or meaningful personal achievement if he or she will not set high self-expectations.

Further compounding things is that when low self-expectations are expanded and actually ascribed to a group, culture or “race” of people, the entire group of believers are hurt by the assertion. Then various “bean counter” types amongst us will tabulate the data comparing the “haves” with the “have nots.” Analyst types will study the tabulated data and surmise that the “have nots” are actually “can nots” and intrinsically, or meaningfully “less than” someone else. “Authoritative” books such as The Bell Curve and Why Race Matters are among those that have attempted a massive “pulling of wool” over our collective eyes. What a vicious circle this can lead to, especially when the conclusions reached amount to little more than well-supplemented opinions.

Only One ‘Race’ of Humanity on Earth

But we like to act as though we are “certain.” For example, some people will take one look at me and assert that I am a “black” man, or African-American. Some will listen to what I have to say for a few minutes and then assert that I don’t talk, or act “black,” or act “black” enough. I am not here to dispute, debate, or appease any of them.

I accept that I am a man. I accept that culturally, I am an American, born and raised in the United States. Beyond that, I show evidence of genetic admixture that would suggest African, European and some Asian/Indian traits. But ultimately, these factors all come into play when attempting to “type” my body, when as I presently see things, I am my body, NOT!

Whether there are adequate words to explain that we are, it has become clear to me that I am something other than my body, and someone other than who or what might come to mind when observing my body. The outer surface and wrapping only provides a clue, the slightest hint to where I, or my ancestors may have been. It is the tip of a great and potentially wonderful iceberg that constitutes my totality. That’s how I see myself, and every other human being on earth. It’s a very liberating way to view things, if real liberation, and good change is what you seek.

Wonderful dreams are not “free,” but they are available to all for the choice. Here’s to a wonderful 2001 and beyond, for you and yours.

Also by Adam E. Abraham:

• Racism: 'Ubiquitous' No More
• Racism 2000: Deconstructing 'The Bigotry Game'
  When the Reality of Race Oneness Sets In

• Wonderful Dreams and 'the Practice Principle'
  Favoring Meaning Over 'Ease'

• Keys in the Song Of Life
• Wonderful Dreams and ‘You’
  It’s Not the ‘Ism’ Anymore