Gabby Douglas: Little girl with big dreams

Gabby Douglas will be on the big stage tonight, in the replay of today's Women's Gymnastics All-Around Olympic competition. I already know the outcome, but won't reveal it here. 

Gabby stands big and tall at only 4'11". But her gait to each apparatus in gymnastics is that of a giant. This little lady from Virginia, walked boldly into the US Olympic Trials and won! She led the charge of her team in the Olympic Gymnastics Team competition and won!

When she was a tiny little somebody, she told her mama she wanted to be a gymnast, and her older sister encouraged their mama to put her in gymnastics. Well...her mama did just that...then allowed Gabby to go live with a host family, and be trained by the coach of Olympic Champion, Shaun Johnson. 

Gabby's story reminds me of how important it is to encourage a child's dreams. When I was six, I told my mama I wanted to be a lawyer. Nothing else. A lawyer. She never told me I couldn't be one. We never talked about not having money for college. We never spoke of my not being capable of doing the work. My parents never let my dream die, even when I faced setbacks. Nope. I said I would be a lawyer...and that was that! 

What I often see too many folks do is kill the dreams of those with the biggest dreams. They find every possible reason to explain why something is impossible...instead of finding ways to make dreams possible.

We should encourage our young people to dream impossible dreams...and then give them every possibility to make their dreams reality. What's wrong with that?