Dreams.

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of having Vision.

Often that starts with having a dream.

During the now-famous March on Washington on August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was delivering a prepared speech titled "Normalcy, Never Again."

It was written and rehearsed and you probably never heard of it.

That’s because about halfway through, MLK’s friend and legendary gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson - who was sitting on stage behind him- leaned forward and said, “Tell ‘em about the dream, Martin.”

She had heard him talk about his dream a couple months earlier.

Martin Luther King Jr. paused.

He put his prepared remarks aside, and began one of the most iconic pieces of rhetoric in American history.

It’s a masterpiece, beautifully delivered, history-changing, and he almost didn’t share it until a friend encouraged him to share his dream.

250,000 were listening as Martin read his speech about Normalcy. But when he put aside his notes and spoke from his heart about his dream, everything changed. People of all races and backgrounds —Black and white, young and old, clergy and labor leaders, students and celebrities—all became united in the call for racial and economic justice.

The event was pivotal in building momentum for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

If nobody else is doing it…let me be the friend sitting behind you today, encouraging you to put away your prepared script and tell us about your dream.