Here I am sitting looking out upon my world. The lake is slowly thawing, and winter is waning. Spring pauses as it waits offstage to return. A week ago, I posted One Moment in Time. The essay was about my dream of raising a half million dollars for 1250 laptops and improved Internet reception at the two schools where my three granddaughters attend in Taunggyi, Myanmar. I wrote about waiting for the IRS’s designation of We Are Family in Myanmar, Inc. as a not-for-profit charity. The federal government’s shutdown for a month has delayed anything coming out of Washington.

While my readers read that essay from last week, I went back to teaching online, taking care of Ginger, my hyperactive 80 pound Irish Setter, and working on other articles. Midafternoon, I took a break and got my mail. The first thing that I saw was from the IRS. I finally got my 501(c)(3) designation. Now, I can begin my fundraising efforts. I have written the request for funds that will be posted on GoFundMe. I have just a couple small matters to address, but, in a couple of weeks, my request will go online at GoFundMe.

As I look out upon nature transitioning from cold to warm, I am relieved that I have my IRS’s approval. However, now it is crunch time. In precisely nine months from today, I will be flying to Myanmar. That means that my dreaming of 1250 laptops and improved Internet access for the two schools feels almost overwhelming even to a dreamer. Nevertheless, I learned from Bobby Kennedy that “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.”

I am facing a daunting task of raising $500,000, getting age-appropriate laptops for an elementary and high school, and negotiating with an Internet service provider…all in nine months.

With all that must be done in a limit timeframe, I am facing potential failure. What happens if I fail? Name someone that thinks that this task is manageable…even for a dreamer. So, what should I do?

I listened to people who have been in similar daunting settings. Saul Alinsky, a radical reformer and community organizer, wrote, “We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful new world. We will see it when we believe it.” I buy that. Spring is coming, but it isn’t here…yet.

Randy Pausch said, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people.” Man, I get Pausch’s comment.

Finally, Teddy Roosevelt said at the Sorbonne in Paris a century ago what we call the Man in the Arena paragraph.

I face a seemingly insurmountable task in the next few months. Some will be saying, “Hey, Campbell, who are you kidding? You can’t accomplish that task.” My retort is that I had a choice or to cower in the corner of my life and do nothing. If I do nothing, failure is assured.

Now, I have written about this many times. My drive to help those two schools started with a nine year old girl, Ti Ti. We sat in her living room and played Scrabble. In the process of trying to beat a kid playing Scrabble in Myanmar in English, which is her second language, I discovered my granddaughter.

That moment in time tied our families together along with my extended family…the students with whom she and her sisters attend school.

I may succeed beyond my wildest dreams and accomplish more than I could ever imagine. However, I might fail. I am fully aware of that reality. Nonetheless, either way I win. I might get the laptops, or I might not. If I don’t, at least, I have demonstrated to 1250 children that I saw value in them…especially my three granddaughters.

Those children are living in an emerging nation. However, someone, from the outside, saw hope for them and wanted to help them. I might fail getting all the laptops, but I never fail telling Ti Ti, her sisters, and their classmates that they all have value, that they are entitled to have a chance in life.

Basically, if I fail, I will have rewritten Roosevelt’s the Man in the Arena speech for the 21st century. I am willing to fail in my efforts to help 1250 students in a country halfway around the world. They have value, and I cherish them.

However, it applies to America. We have a herculean task to straighten out the mess in Washington. Talk about a grandiose dream, but America is worth it. What I have written about Myanmar and America applies to individual families. It also applies to 1:1 relationships.

If you are looking for a lyrical expression that enables dreaming, listen to Dana Winner’s One Moment in Time.