Dreams of starting a university

One of my dearest hopes has been to start a University for Asperger's patients and other high-functioning autistic people. 

Such a university would not require the usual minors / general education courses. Instead of the usual general education series, my University would include general education coursework aimed at developing excellent coping skills. Instead of two years taking one of this and one of that, basically because such courses are the ones available, the students at my dream University would be a bit more limited in their choices, but those choices would be tailored to also include the social skills training. (For instance, instead of taking an any sort of art course, the student would be made to take portraiture, to give them practice in reading faces, or acting, to give them practice in reading body language.)  The University would also have excellent instruction in the majors it does offer, but the University would not try to offer every possible major: instead, it would focus on majors that lead to careers that such students are more likely to thrive in and be happy in. 

I dream of this University, because I needed it, and I probably still do.  I have the social skills of a gnat, and my ability to read faces and body language remains sub par, despite years of teaching. (Ok, I have better social skills than a gnat, but I'm also never going to be the life of the party either.)

This University has long been only a hope, a dream; not something I could ever envision someone doing. 

Ten minutes ago, I discovered the Independence Academy of Indiana. Someone is already doing it, as a combination middle school and high school.  I wanted to cheer.

Moving past hope to action needs something to get the process started.  Discovering that someone has already done something pretty similar might just be such a kick in the butt. 

Yet it's only a kick. What turns delighted surprise into action is still something I'm looking to explore.

Hope's Chains

Pandora's box was opened, and all the evils of the world escaped, entering our lives. When the awed onlookers inspected the box, they found it was not empty: for in it lay hope.

Nearly every interpretation says that finding hope, despite the cares of the world, is good.  Yet I read a post on reddit that suggested that the onlookers were delighted to find hope in the box, because then they could capture it, locking it away.  That of all the evils in our lives, the worst is hope, for it tortures us with our desire for what we don't have.  Sometimes, hope can be a chain binding us, showing us what we want, but not how to get there. We have to pass beyond hope.

So much of my life has been the search for three things: security, happiness, love.  To find these, I need to pass beyond hope.  We must pass beyond hope, taking the risky steps to achievement. 

And that's so very, very hard to do.  So, what makes you step past hope, into doing? into living? 

This blog will, I hope, inspire action, not merely hope.  And I want to not just use what I find on the Internet, or from my own life.  I want your stories. 

Let's pass hope.