Building Success by Dreaming

The mural is of a big blue sky coming out of the soil. The words in the sky read: “Today jackhammers, tomorrow jazz. Today diggers, tomorrow Dickens. Today pipes, tomorrow puppets. Today bulldozers, tomorrow ballet. Today hard hats, tomorrow top hats.”

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is under construction in Beverly Hills. However, the future building in the center of the city is not surrounded by the usual black wall or green gate closing off the site. Instead, the witty mural, with a strong message, beautifies the street and conceals the debris.

The message is one of dreams, faith and joyIt’s not just the words on the mural that inspire me. It is the way they are drawn. The words symbolizing today are all the same black, bold and boring font, whereas the words of tomorrow are in different colors and fancy fonts that dance off the page. Pictures of ballet dancers and puppets stand proudly next to the words they represent. The message is one of dreams, faith and joy.

The mural reminds me of an old friend I had in middle school. She would look at a book and say, “Samantha, we could have written this.” We were only twelve years old, but her optimism told me we could. Why not? Who knows what we could do tomorrow? If we think we can, we have a better chance of doing it and being triumphant.

I’ve noticed that people who “make it” in life are the ones who believe in themselves. They have a dream and trust they can make it a reality. Out of their minds come open and cloudless skies, color, pictures and tomorrows.

In one of his speeches, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, described how soldiers preparing for combat march around victoriously. Why would they celebrate before knowing whether they will win or lose? The celebratory attitude helps them perform better in battle and win the war. By preparing for success, we have a better chance of achieving it.

The Jewish people come from dreamers. Jacob had the famous dream about the ladder, but his son Joseph is the best example of what dreaming can accomplish. From the time he was a teenager, he dreamed that he would be someone great.

Life didn’t seem like it was going his way. He was thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery by his own brothers. He was falsely accused of a crime by his slave master, Potiphar, and thrown into prison. Yet he always believed in himself despite his troubles. He never gave up on his dream. Thus, whatever lot he was given in life, he made sure to excel. When he became a slave, he became the best slave; when he became a prisoner, he became a model prisoner and supervisor of the other prisoners.

No matter what the circumstances, he never lost faith that the vision he had in his dreams would be fulfilled. He always believed that G‑d would lead him just where he needed to be.

In the end, he became the right-hand man to the Pharaoh of Egypt, saved the entire nation, and—although he wasn’t officially given the title of “king”—he was the one who dictated how Egypt would be ruled. He was successful because grim reality never dictated how he should live his life.

A friend of mine wrote on his Facebook wall: “Don’t tell G‑d how big your storms are. Tell your storms how big G‑d is.” Don’t let your failures or your troubles get you down. Joseph didn’t. He believed his dreams would eventually come true.

What we also must learn from Joseph is that dreamers hold tight to their values and convictions. Joseph was subject to a lot of temptation but did not give in. When he looked at himself, he saw his father. Although he had many trials and tribulations, he knew from whom he came and who he was. That kept him on track to do the right thing. Perhaps Joseph’s belief in himself stemmed from the faith his own father instilled in him as a child.

Our dreaming is not just for ourselves, but also for the people who follow us. Our belief that everything will be okay and that we will be taken care of is handed down to us from our predecessors. Optimism is contagious. We achieve the most when we pass on the tools of success to others. We must lead by example.

Our dreaming is not just for ourselves, but also for the people who follow usOne of the most important keys to Joseph’s success was his faith. Jews have two types of faiths. One is knowledge that G‑d exists and that He runs the world. This knowledge is called emunah. Emunah is the foundation for a second type of faith, called bitachon. Bitachon is trusting in G‑d that everything will come out as it should. Bitachon is where we come in. We are G‑d’s partners. We need to help Him mold us into our potential. With that mindset and the pursuing of our dreams, I believe, we can all achieve our own personal success.

Life is a construction site. There are two ways to look at it. One way is to look at the dirt and the rubble and say, “forget it.” This pessimistic view is a tough, sad, and often detrimental way to live life. Seeing things as they stand and as they are today is good only if we imagine things will get better. In order to be successful, we need to look around and inside of ourselves for the construction tools in which to build our own building.

Judaism says that the Torah is the foundation for joy, because from it we learn life’s wisdom. G‑d laid out the blueprints. We are the builders. With a strong foundation, our talents as our hammers, and our dreams as our materials, we can build almost anything. We need to reach for the sky, dream of tomorrow, and have faith that from our toil over the dirt we will build something marvelous.

I feel joyful as I pass by the mural. I dream of how things will be once the construction is completed. That is how we should live our lives. No matter what happens, we should feel joy that we are alive. That mere fact gives us so much potential. We are here to build ourselves into what we are meant to be, and that should be our impetus to dream big. The words on the back of the mural are a metaphor for life: “Today construction, tomorrow concertos.”