Word for Word

I have a dream that (fill in the blank)

If you turn on the TV or radio today, the national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, you'll almost certainly hear an excerpt from King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered resoundingly from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963.

In the speech, which appears today on page 3D, King expressed his broad vision of a fair and equal society. In the three decades since, countless other Americans have used the speech's signature phrase to set forth their dreams, some having to do with serious issues, such as illness, and some perhaps less ambitious than King's.

A Google search yielded this sampling.

-- MIKE WILSON, Floridian editor

I have a Dream that one day this nation will RISE UP and not arrest people for smoking weed! If a man wants to become a pathetic pot-head, that's his right!

-- Hogwild.net, which promises "semi-hilarious comedy every day"

I would like to have the courage and simplicity to shout: "The king of Canadian nationalism has no clothes!" I have a dream that one day he will.

-- Jamie Glazov, Frontpage magazine

I have a dream that my State will implement the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act by passing a Medicaid buy-in and implement the Olmstead Supreme Court decision by extending access to home and community-based services to people stuck in institutions.

-- Andy Imparato, president of American Association of People with Disabilities

I have a dream that I will be nice to my brother Sam. I have a dream that I will be kind to the poor and my parents. I have a dream that I will be nice to my teachers. I have a dream that I will respect myself. I think my dreams will come true in 2000, 2001, and 2008.

-- Max P., fourth grade, Notre Dame Elementary School, Belmont, Calif.

I have a dream that Christians will love each other and that all denominations that stand for the basic fundamentals of the gospel will make an effort to find common ground for unity in order to fight against the real enemies of humanity, who are Satan and his demons, not other Christians who may have slightly different doctrinal and cultural distinctions.

-- David M. Wasmundt, Atlanta evangelist

I have a dream that one day I will be free of Lyme Disease.

-- Lori, on lyme.org.

I have a dream that taking a step outside your house in (the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus), or in any of the refugee camps near those cities, will be possible without being picked off by a sniper, tank shell, Apache helicopter shell, or F-16 fighter jet bomb.

-- Annie C. Higgins of Media Monitors Network, which says it "seeks the truth about 'hot topics' which can often be twisted by the world media."

I have a dream that one day the Frances R. Willis SPCA will be a real sanctuary for animals, as opposed to just temporary storage.

-- Heather Lowe in the fall 2001 issue of Paw & Claw, the newsletter of the Summerville, S.C., Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

I have a dream that people with autism will be accepted and loved for who they are and not for who they are not.

-- Unknown author, Autism Society of Wisconsin, www.asw4autism.org

I have a dream that the basic mechanisms of (inflammatory bowel disease) soon will be understood. Observations in animal models, as well as clinical research, indicate that IBD is the result of an interaction of genetic susceptibility, the drive of intestinal bacteria and environmental triggers that activate the immune response and stimulate relapse.

-- R. Balfour Sartor, M.D., on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Web site, ccfa.org

I have a dream that the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics will house a Ph.D Program.

-- Author unknown, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

I have a dream that one day, those in our community who still live in a spiritual desert, sweltering with the heat of sin's fruit, will be transformed as they enter into an oasis of revival and drink there of the water of life.

-- Dr. David Logan, Armidale Community Church, New South Wales, Australia

I have a dream that gambling, bingo and all of the social sickness that exist with them will stay out of the Ozarks, that our water will remain pure and that Southwest Missouri will always be a safe haven for Republicans. Perhaps most of all, I have a dream that truly significant welfare reform will be developed with no preference to skin color or heritage, but rather with an emphasis on education and the willingness of those involved to help themselves.

-- David Burton, in a column for the Cross Country Times of Willard, Mo., in the early 1990s.

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