It was a late evening back in 2011, specifically on November 9, 2011, when I received a message from one of my friends inviting me to participate in an event called TEDxBaghdad.

“TED what?” was my reply, then the usual warnings that this might be a scam or an evil organization trading in human organs and so on, but my friend said he was going so I wished him good luck, liked the TEDxBaghdad page, sent an invitation to the site and went to bed.

I waited for a couple of days yet I did not receive the invitation, as I registered too late to be accepted, and that made me so sad.

Then it was, November 12, 2011, the BIG DAY for the event, my facebook homepage was filled with updates on this event, then I noticed that some people were up there presenting their own ideas on some topics and others relating their own experiences on overcoming hardships and difficulties, and some sharing their dreams to rebuild our country, and on that fateful night, a dream was born.

If you looked up the word “Dream” in Google, it will give you something like this “A dream is a succession of images, thoughts and emotions passing through the mind during sleeping”. Well, it is an abstract definition for anyone looking for a quick explanation. They can not, however, explain the other kind of dreams, for you see, dreams are not just something you see during sleeping and forget about it the moment you wake up.

Dreams are in a way, a driving force, a light to illuminate the dark failures and hardships one encounters on his way to achieve his goal, born from his dream, you see how important a dream is? its why humans evolved, for they dream and work to make those dreams come true

While you are asleep, you can’t share it with others, so its a selfish one, one designed by your mind for your own mind, a closed cycle, starts and ends with you

TedxBaghdad has created something different, it started with a dream, turned it into a idea ,then spread that idea  to others and shared it with them.  I was one of the lucky ones to share it with them, MY dream Became OUR dream, my idea became ours…simply turning I into We.

TEDxBaghdad, to me, is a dream of a better future, a dream of a safe world, living life as we should , an ear to hear our ideas, an opportunity to tell the world that we are here , we are alive and we are not invisible. Dreams do come true, if you only you try hard enough and now as the beginning begins, new dreams are born.

Thank you TEDxBaghdad