Today we celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. He is remembered as the consummate advocate for civil rights, particularly people of color.
Among other things, he is remembered for the “I Have a Dream” speech he made, as he stood with his back to the Lincoln Memorial and faced thousands and thousands of people. If anyone ever had reason to complain about life, certainly he – and the people he represented – had cause.
He is not remembered for his “I Have a Complaint” speech. He could have stood there all day and listed all the complaints of people of color. I know … I grew up in the South. I witnessed it!
What is significant is that he didn’t make a laundry list of complaints … complaints don’t motivate – no matter how legitimate. Dreams motivate. Dreams inspire. Dreams change lives.
How about you … are you a dreamer or a complainer?
You may have a lot of legitimate complaints … but talking about them doesn’t help you move past them … it keeps you stuck in them.
Several years ago, I obtained a bunch of “No Complaint Zone” bracelets. I challenged my congregation at the time to go for thirty days without complaining about anything. The challenge was to wear the bracelet as a reminder … and when you caught yourself complaining, you switched the bracelet to the other arm and started your thirty days again.
The responses were interesting. Some of my parishioners returned the bracelets the next week. They just weren’t up for living a life without complaining. At her request, I gave a bunch to my mother for herself and her friends. She acknowledged to me that when she and her friends got together for coffee, they simply took off their bracelets until it was time to go back out into the world. Certainly, they had reason to complain: their common bond was having spouses with dementia who were patients in nursing homes.
When I asked why they removed their bracelets, my mother confessed, “We wouldn’t have anything to talk about.” I jokingly said that was the purpose of the bracelets … to make us think about what we would talk about if we weren’t complaining.
A long time ago, I was advised to never make a complaint without also offering a remedy or solution. Over the years, that has proved to be a useful practice, because it focuses on the remedy instead of leaving the complaint hanging in the air.
So, here’s the challenge today … stop giving voice to your complaints. Look within and give voice to your dreams.
To the extent you do, you’ll feel good about being you … I promise!
