Courtney Martin: “They Say/I Say” Essay

Perhaps many of us have heard the cliché that says, dreams do come true. For many of us we take this cliché as our personal truth. Inspirational speakers have countlessly encouraged people to continue believing, to pursue a dream and to realize a vision. Many thinks that if you willed it hard enough, the cosmic forces in the universe will conspire to make it happen. The beginning of something great starts with a dream or a vision. The book entitled The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth about the Law of Attraction sought to unravel how man can have the key to unlocking their potentials. Simply put, the authors made it very clear that to be successful, one must be able to dream about success. And by dreaming, one needs to make a conscious effort to realize that dream and make it a reality.
The overall theme of the book was about dreams and realizations. Among the greatest minds who contemplated about the concept of dreaming and realizing a dream were Plato and Aristotle. In our contemporary times, we have Courtney Martin who shared an insight about dreaming, succeeding and what could deter man from not realizing their potentials. Before I attempt to break into Martin’s analysis of the book, The Secret, allow me first to establish my perception about dreams, succeeding and realization. Every dream starts with a vision. And every vision has the capacity to be realized. Something that can be thought of will necessarily have to be answered. No single question ever asked is without an answer. Such that every dream has a realization. And every success starts with a single step.
Courtney Martin said, “if the Secret's logic is to be believed, then those who are hungry are not envisioning food hard enough.” She meant that people lack the willpower to help themselves out of a dreadful situation. People continue to complain of the things they do not have and blame others like the government for its failure to help them succeed. People want a better life but not everyone is willing to work to get it. Plato offered a good analysis of this perspective that people have about dreams and reality. According to Plato the logic and levels of realizing a dream are significantly different from the certainty that is enforced in the waking state (Miller 97-98). He meant that it is easy to convince yourself of success when you are in the planning stages or when you’re just dreaming. Like an idealistic medical student who dreams to save the world by helping cure the sick. It is easy while they are still school because they are relieved of the responsibility to be on call 24/7. They are not confronted with the reality that patients dies every day and that the system is not design to give treatments free and so many will be deprived. However, as soon as this medical student steps into the real world and put on their lab gowns they will realize that it’s a different ballgame to be outside that piece of paper where he scribbles his dreams. Nevertheless, it should be establish that nobody says it’s impossible. It is hard given the numerous challenges and barriers but it is never impossible to be a good doctor and to help people get better because many have proven that it is possible. Those who do not succeed in life are those who stopped with having just a dream. Unless a person is willing to go through the entire process of realization which is plagued with hardships as it is with triumphs, only will the person make the dream into reality.

Works Cited

Garlow, James and Rick Marschall. The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth About the Law of Attraction. Nashville, Tennessee: Faith Words Publishing, 2007. Print.
Miller, Tyrus. "From City-Dreams to the Dreaming Collective: Walter Benjamin's Political Dream Interpretation." Philosophy of Social Criticism (1996): 87-111. Print.