We all have dreams that are generally held together with a good bit of hope. You hear things like “dream house,” “dream car,” “dream girl” or “dream job.”

Dreams are a big part of our country, expressed in the American Dream that is generally taught to young people as the following: If I work hard, I’ll be successful, which will make me happy. It sort of encapsulates our attitude about life, hard work and keeping hope alive through our dreams.

The American Dream has taken it on the chin as of late, with university academics and social justice warriors telling us that the dream has become a nightmare for many segments of our society. Sure, some dreams can turn into nightmares and things don’t always work out, but the thing about our country is that second acts are a thing that we’ve come to embrace as well.

This week, we celebrated MLK Day on Monday, and students in all of my classes got to hear parts of one of the most remembered speeches in American history. English teachers like me get goosebumps when we get to study things like rhetorical devices, figurative language and all the cool stuff that makes up a great speech. Regardless of your views on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there is no question that his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech contains the lines that, considering our culture today, need to be repeated and reinforced for younger generations.

Skin color seems like one of the most important and identifiable aspects of a human being in our current “woke and broke” society. Dr. King concluded that focusing on skin color was just going to destroy the promise that America had the responsibility to live up to as a nation. Today, we’ve taken huge strides backwards. A generation-in-waiting is unsure about just how we’re supposed to move forward in a country that celebrates equality of opportunity, but too often experiences a focus on equality of outcome, preferential hiring practices and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Judging others on the content of their character is a big lift these days because talking about character is controversial, and holding people accountable for their actions is increasingly hard to do because of movements like restorative justice and contextual understanding of cultural values and beliefs.

Most reasonable people in our country would agree that judging people based on an immutable characteristic is only going to lead to misperceptions. Further, there is a need for people to realize that common sense tells us that excusing bad behavior over time isn’t going to make things better. So, the dream for Dr. King, and for millions of others, remains alive, as does the hope of a culture that once again embraces the ideal that people would be judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

Sure, it’s an old dream, but it’s a dream worth pursuing and it holds up the ideals that make our country great.

All of us want to be great, and what better way than to rally behind a dream that offers the most people the greatest amount of hope. I’m hopeful and I hope you are too. Now we all just need to go out and live it.

Lance Scranton is a career educator and has made his home in Moffat County for the past 25 years. He offers his views and opinions as part of the ongoing conversation about our community, country and world. Reach him at lance.scranton@consultant.com.