OUR VIEW

Dream big. Everybody, dream big.

And figure out a way to make those dreams come true.

If ever there was a time for any generation alive today to realize anything is possible, we truly are in those moments. And we’ve been progressing for quite some time.

Yes, there was a time when our gender or the color of our skin did in fact serve as a barrier and held us back. There’s valid arguments — and rightfully so — that discriminations for those and other things still happen today, and will happen in our tomorrows.

Prejudice has been around for a long time. It doesn’t suddenly go away because of a single moment. Time heals it, though usually quite slower than we would wish.

Baseball changed when Jackie Robinson got an opportunity with the Dodgers. But not every part of the Major League Baseball changed with it — not managers on the field, or executives making decisions in the front office.

That’s just one example.

The world felt the impact of President Ronald Reagan appointing Sandra Day O’Connor to the United States Supreme Court in 1981. Now, since 2010, we’ve had three women there at one time — Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the recently appointed Amy Coney Barrett after Ginsburg died.

Sotomayor is the first Latina, and she was appointed by our first president of color, Barack Obama.

Social media — meaning all of us — buzzes greatly about firsts. Imagine if there had been internet, and Twitter, in 1981?

But we’re a bit miffed at the tweets and posts that suggest little girls, children of color or both, somehow do not realize they can do anything they want. They can! Always could! The comments may be well-intended, but we know of few if any parents that are not hoping for great things for their children.

Loving parents are nurturing and encouraging their children from the start. Their hope is that they will lead wonderful lives that make an impact, that their lot in life will be better than their own.

They’ve believed their children could do anything from the moment they were born, the moment they took their first step, the moment they said their first word. There was never a doubt. And inherently, parents teach kids to dream big and believe in themselves as well.

Firsts are unique, and they deserve celebration. No matter what aspect of life, there are things to accomplish that have never been done before and each who breaks through got a start somewhere.

Most were buoyed by others believing in them. That’s the message for all of us. Not that one person becoming the first means anyone else can do it; rather, that one person becoming the first means that others believed in them along the way.

Look around. Let people know of your belief in them. And celebrate their accomplishments. One day, it might be the first.