The dream and vision that blossom in the soul of a person are more beautiful than anything in this world. If that dream is only for one’s own wealth and honor, it will soon wither like the flowers of the field or end in disgrace. However, the unending pursuit of the essence of humanity that connects one soul to another becomes a precious dream for all of us—one that does not fade or disappear with the passing of time or changing generations, like an evergreen pine tree.

In 1886, Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was not only the inventor of the telephone, but also a teacher of the hearing-impaired. His wife was also deaf, and so his affection for the deaf was deeper than that of anyone else. After meeting Helen Keller for the first time, Dr. Bell introduced Miss Annie Sullivan as a private tutor to Helen’s father. One year later, on March 3, the meeting between Miss Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller became a historic moment that gave humanity a dramatic and meaningful dream. At that time, Miss Sullivan was a 21-year-old young woman, and Helen was just about to turn eight. Through the movement of her lips, Sullivan opened up a world of light and language within the soul of a young girl who lived in darkness, helping her find the key to hearing. Like a miner who never stops swinging his pickaxe in search of a precious vein of gold, Sullivan tirelessly nurtured a dream with patience and love—reaching toward the infinite world hidden within the soul of a child who, trapped in silence and gloom, had been irritable, selfish, and incapable of sensing affection or compassion.

Helen Keller described the emotional impact of learning her first words through the fingertips of Miss Sullivan in her autobiography:
“Like Aaron’s rod that budded in the Book of Numbers, she turned the world into a garden of blossoms for me.”

Miss Sullivan’s faith-filled passion and dream released the chains that bound the young girl’s soul. And once she was set free, Helen Keller became a bearer of hope for many who were less fortunate.

In 1935, in the state of Georgia, two boys—one Black and one white—were growing up as neighbors. The Black boy was the son of a Baptist pastor; the white boy was the son of a grocery store owner. They spent their days playing joyfully—engaged in toy gunfights and wrestling matches—unaware of time until the sun went down. But a day came when they had to part ways. One had to go to a school for white children, and the other to a school for Black children. Their parents told them that they could no longer play together.

The Black boy asked the white boy:
“Why can’t we play together anymore?”
“Because you’re Black and I’m white. I don’t really know why, but that’s just how things have always been.”

Though he couldn’t understand, the Black boy grew up carrying a deep wound in his heart, and he began to see the reality of the world around him. Black and white people couldn’t eat together, couldn’t ride the same bus, couldn’t shop at the same markets. They couldn’t even worship God together.

That young boy, Martin Luther King Jr., began to dream.

“One day, will Black and white people live together in peace, as brothers and sisters?”

Many began to share in his dream. On August 25, 1963, over 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. There, in the dark days of racial discrimination, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. cried out to America, “I have a dream!”

“All men are created equal. I have a dream that one day my four little children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream…
That the bell of freedom will ring from mountaintops and valleys, and across the land, and that Black and White, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will all join hands and sing the old Negro spiritual:
‘Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Free at last!’”

On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel at the age of 39. Though his body left this world, his dream remained alive. His dream abolished racial discrimination in America, corrected social injustices, and awakened society to its responsibility for the oppressed—achieved through the path of nonviolence. His dream continues to live on, transcending race and national boundaries, inspiring people around the world to this day.

Back in Korea, a tragic story surfaced of a young elite officer, a military academy graduate, who, burdened by debts from gambling and drinking, committed an armed robbery at a bank just to buy a car. This news saddened us all. And among Korean immigrants in New York, the story of competing Korean shop owners fighting for business with one-cent sales has reduced our dreams to nothing more than a single cent.

“When there is bread but no vision, that bread cannot produce vision.
But when there is vision, even without bread, that vision can produce bread.”
—Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Let us remember his words. Unless the Spirit of God is poured out upon us, we will not be able to realize true dreams and visions for the future.

“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.”
—Joel 2:28

The words of the prophet Joel are still speaking today—crying out to this generation, which lives without a dream.