As we relish this moment in time, the culmination of 18 month’s work to establish the Magnificent Mile Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated, I think these words from author and activist Toni Morrison are particularly appropriate.
“As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.” – Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison’s words seem like befitting advice as we begin our tenure as the 39th chapter in the Mid-Western Region of this storied organization. We are a dynamic group of women. You see before we were entrusted with the responsibility of chartering this chapter, we were entrusted with the position, the vocation, the calling of mother. Mothers are for sure special people. We plan, we orchestrate, we organize, we discipline, we nurture, we nourish, we educate, we defend, we celebrate; but almost from the moment we find out that we are going to enter into the calling, the sacred task of motherhood, we dream. We dream of who they will become, of what they will do, of the impact they will make on this world. Those dreams are what drew us to this group, a place where we could walk alongside other sisters to help till fertile, fresh soil in which our dreams for our children can take root. Where they can discover and begin to plant and water the seeds of their own dreams.
Dreams are our soul’s way of painting pictures which defy the limits of common language. Dreams are the ever expanding canvas on which our hopes and desires are drawn – rich with detail, warm with depth and color. They are the reflection of our deepest sense of who we are and what we can be. They are the gritty material of our innermost thoughts and the language of our hearts. For as King Solomon wrote – “As a man or woman thinks in their heart, so is he or she.”
We have seen t-shirts and internet memes that remind us that we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. Before Harriet Tubman thought about an escape route, she dreamed of freedom for all her people. Before Martin Luther King strategized with Diane Nash and Hosea Williams and John Lewis for the March on Selma, he dreamed of a nation that would live up to its basic tenants of equality for all people.
I fondly remember Regional Coordinator Yvonne Blake’s activity at our first Mother’s Retreat–inviting us to write down our dreams for this group. So as we enter into this leg of our journey, entrusted with the task to lead this group forward, before we think together, reason together, work together, organize or plan together, I join Mother Toni Morrison in inviting us to continue to dream – for our children, for ourselves and for the future of the Magnificent Mile Chapter of Jack ad Jill of America, Incorporated.
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