OK2D: The Reprise

MLK Image provided by Alabama State University

Martin Put Dreams On 

This month we want to revisit our  It’s OK to Dream initiative, but a little differently (learn more about OK2D in our post OK2D and Nothing Less). When you hear the phrase it's OK to Dream it almost sounds as if it is permitting you to access something that we know you already have. Incidentally, discussing OK2D during Black History Month is that one cannot help but think about the parallels between MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech and the It's OK to Dream initiative. Dr. King's dream has been a framework meant to transition from dreaming to permitting humanity to believe dreams were attainable realities. The It's OK to Dream tour is the space between having a dream and finding safety in believing that dream is possible.

Interestingly, the word OK is that it's considered an informal exclamation. It is a word that expresses agreement or acceptance, but it can mean many things because it is nuanced. In the context that we use, it is always in acceptance. We want you to accept a dream in you that is waiting to be birthed. Dreams are simply a series of thoughts; therefore, if OK2D can influence your thinking or your ability to dream, it can direct your feelings. Once Oliver can get you to feel like it’s possible and you can achieve? Well, it is proven that those that are empowered - do. So with your next set of consistent actions, we can predict and predetermine your results. This is why it’s vital to Oliver that we clearly distinguish influencers and those who influence. It is like math and science. Meaning this plus that, divided by this and times that equals this every single time. Or this mixed with that causes this reaction unless you add that lol, right?

So in the simplest of terms, we promise it is OK to dream, and your imagination is only waiting on you to be the one who influences.

King, Oliver’s nephew and inspiration for OK2D (read more at blog post “It’s OK2D and Nothing Less”)

Imagination 

One of the foundational keys of the OK to Dream tour is imagination. What we would like to note, particularly in Black History Month, is the limitlessness of imagination. The abolitionists, civil rights advocates, and revolutionaries before us all oriented themselves into spaces unseen. According to the American Psychological Association, imagination is the faculty that produces ideas and images in the absence of direct sensory data, often by combining fragments of previous sensory experiences into new syntheses. What is so unique about imagination is when you consider this definition of imagination itself, consider the fragments those before us had to work with- if they even had fragments. Their imagination fueled by their dreams of safety, equity, and learning solidified a foundational knowledge. Imagination is unconquerable, and it leads to the freedom of ideas, the eloquence of language, and the blueprint of all that is creative. Those before us have demonstrated that imagination has had to make up the space between where they were and the lack of equitable resources. This lack of equitable resources is something that we see in our students. That is why OK2D is the #1 social-emotional learning tour. OK2D was designed to support students to believe in their primary resource, their imagination. We specialize in working youth who experience any level of adversity or poverty by teaching students how to turn their challenges into triumphs. Through the OK2D assembly tour, Oliver tells his unique story of homelessness, being 1 of 14 children, a former foster child, and defying the odds to receive a master's degree by age 23. Oliver empowers students through social-emotional learning strategies and positive self-development facilitated by symbolic imagery and universal laws that will never change.  When Oliver tells you that it's OK to Dream, know that it comes from a radical imagination that you can see throughout his journey and the journey of those that come before us. Imagination does not just provide the dream; it is also the fuel and actions that make everything inside our heads tangible. Abolitionists, civil rights advocates, and revolutionaries like Oliver and yourself are examples of resilience. But a far more significant part of it is an example of imagination, a unique and foundational contributor to the human experience. 

Collage of Greatness provided by The University of Texas at San Antonio

Ancestral Dreams

Harriet Tubman, Madam C.J. Walker, W.E.B DuBois, Marcus Garvey are all testimonies to the imagination in its various forms. Particularly in freedom, they were liberators of bodies, minds, and resources. We have noted them and many others this month because it is still shared that dreaming then and now feels large. The It's OK to Dream tour stands on the shoulders of others who carried the fear of liberation but knew that there was also no other option. Yes, OK2D is backed by research and theory and everything that says "it is worth it," but today, we want to speak to the intangible. One of the things that makes Oliver's story so impactful is that he is a living example of imagination in action. You can see and feel his experience when he speaks, but the intangible lies in the how. What those before Oliver have channeled, what he has channeled is an imagination that is inside each of us. With that in mind, we can now say in the same breath we are our ancestors' wildest dreams, but we are also future ancestors'. Both aspects of the seen and unseen, fulfilled and pending, all happen at once. So know today, and always, It is OK to Dream - because what you come from is nothing like the world has ever seen. You harbor the blueprint of imagination, and the only thing better is your execution. 

“Recall that thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to results. Everything begins with your thoughts—which are produced by your mind.” - T Harve Eker 

References:

American Psychological Association. (2022). APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved on February 10th, 2022