Dreaming, believing, and inspiring are three things we strive to do before we retire. Around the age of six our parents tell us to DREAM big and that we can do or be anything in this world. During our adolescent years we begin to hear the word BELIEVE. “Believe in yourself or nobody else will." As we mature into adults, we begin to discover ourselves and endeavor to leave a mark on our families, communities, and the world, INSPIRE others. If we can manage to execute these three things in our lifetime, we will have lived an accomplished life, correct?

To achieve this mission, we have to become self-aware of the invisible fourth word: ACTION. ACTION follows every thought, intention, belief, and opinion. Society has grown into a world of words without verbs. The mind is home to very profound ideas and plans for the betterment of mankind, but our bodies fail to follow it. Our parents preach that we listen to their words and become blind to their actions. Our presidents speak change but practice complacency. We have turned down the volume of the word that speaks volumes and fall victim to the eloquently, vivacious verbs that never manifest into reality.

Our actions should be just as moving as the words that roll off our tongues. This world holds unprecedented potential for awe-inspiring accomplishments. We have to be like the single parents playing both mom and dad. That's ACTION! We have to be the soldiers who gave up their families to protect ours. That’s ACTION! We have to be like the kid with no resources who still achieves success. That's ACTION! We have to fight like the woman with cancer who vows to live as though she's immortal. That's ACTION! We have to endure and persevere like the athletes who are first to practice and last to leave. That’s ACTION! We have to care like the teacher who puts more effort into her students than her personal life. That’s ACTION! We have to overcome adversity and disparate treatment like the country that defeats oppression.  That's ACTION! Like the culture who won the race to defeat racism, defying the society’s previous limits on the relationship between equality and skin pigment. That's ACTION. A dream is a vision of an ACTION, a belief fuels an ACTION, and inspiration pushes others to repeat the cycle: ACTION.

We have to make a habit out of action. Action first, words second, that's the order. When we pass away, we aren't judged based on our beliefs, dreams, or words, but rather what we did to achieve our proudest accomplishments and the positive impact they had on others. If our speech was taken tomorrow, how would we demonstrate or communicate our beliefs, dreams, and inspirations? A person of complacency would say it's not possible, but a person of proposition would say nothing, only because his actions have already spoken to those who lay eyes upon it. When you act instead of speak you touch people on an entirely different level. Because when you speak, the mind is limited to interpreting only the words that are spoken. But when we say nothing and do everything, our minds tap into every relationship, thought, and passion that evokes what we aim to do before we retire: BELIEVE, DREAM, and INSPIRE. This is why actions speak louder than words simply because they force the witness to define what they saw and how it has touched them, and no one can influence us better than ourselves. ACTION affords us the opportunity to: Dream, Believe, Inspire.