Yes, We Can!

When we were little children, we dreamed a lot. To be a doctor, to be Batman, to be Michael Jordan, or to be like daddy or mommy. We dreamed of a future so great that they are unbelievable to others. But not to us. Not until we hit reality.

In the movie Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner told his son, never allow others to tell you what you can do or not do. Unfortunately, most children grew with the hard realities of people telling them, no, dictating to them what they can do or not do. And the consequence is not good. In the poor community, their reality is small, their achievement is small, their ability is small, their finance is small. Thus their dream is small. This is the reality they pass to their children, and to their children's children. Poverty in poor communities is a vicious cycle. By the way, I happen to minister in such a community.

Friends, most of us have better lives because we believe we can achieve better lives, or because we have better genes, or better families who lead us to believe there are better opportunities ahead of us. We live believing that poverty will not be part of us. And it is so. Poor people need the same powerful idea that in this life, we all have opportunities to be better. I plead, help me plant that idea to these people. And let's complement this idea with something tangible. I propose, let's pull our resources together and help them get a college education.

One graduate has the potential to pull a family out of poverty. Let's give those families a break. Let's make them dream again...