I was always a dreamer, in childhood especially. People thought I

“I was always a dreamer, in childhood especially. People thought I was a little strange.” — Thus spoke Charley Pride, the son of humble beginnings who rose to become one of the most celebrated voices in American country music. In this simple confession lies the eternal truth of all who dare to dream: that dreamers often walk alone, seen as strange by those who live safely within the walls of the ordinary. For to dream is to see beyond the visible, to believe in a world not yet born, and to carry in one’s heart the fire of what might be — even when others see only smoke.

In the ancient manner of all visionaries, Pride’s words speak not only of his childhood, but of the journey of the human spirit itself. From the beginning of time, the dreamer has been misunderstood. He walks through the fields of the possible while others remain rooted in the soil of the known. The dreamer listens to music that others cannot yet hear, sees horizons that others have not yet imagined. And because of this, the crowd calls him strange. Yet history is written by those same souls who refused to abandon their strangeness, who clung to their dreams until the world caught up.

Charley Pride was born in the shadow of segregation, in a time when the color of a man’s skin could bar him from the stage his heart longed for. Yet he dreamed — not foolishly, but faithfully. He dreamed of standing before thousands, his voice rising in song, his name spoken with reverence in a genre that had seldom welcomed him. Many thought him naïve; some even mocked his ambition. But Pride’s “strangeness” was his strength. He believed in his own vision when belief itself was an act of courage. Through perseverance, talent, and unyielding faith, his dream took form, and the world that once looked upon him with doubt came to honor him with love.

There is power in being called strange, for strangeness is the mark of originality. The child who dreams when others conform, who imagines when others obey, carries within him the seed of creation. Every artist, inventor, and thinker who has transformed the world was once seen as peculiar. Einstein, who wandered lost in thought as a boy; Mozart, whose music seemed too wild for his time; Curie, whose curiosity defied the rules of her age — all were dreamers, all were “a little strange.” But in their strangeness was the whisper of greatness.

To be a dreamer is not to escape reality, but to expand it. The dreamer does not deny what is; he simply refuses to believe that what is must remain forever. Dreaming is an act of rebellion, a sacred defiance of limitation. It is the heart’s refusal to be confined by circumstance. And so, as Charley Pride once dreamed beneath the southern sun, each of us must dare to dream — not because it is easy, but because without dreams, life becomes nothing more than existence.

Yet dreaming alone is not enough. The dream must be tended, as a fire must be fed. For every vision that lives, a thousand die in neglect. Pride’s story reminds us that perseverance gives shape to imagination. The world will not immediately understand your dreams — it will test them, question them, and often mock them. But if you hold your vision steadfastly, with patience and purpose, one day that same world will see in you what it could not before.

The lesson, then, is clear: never be ashamed of your dreams, nor of the strangeness they bring. The world calls strange what it does not yet understand. Cherish that sacred difference within you — for it is the seed of your destiny. Nurture your dreams with effort, guard them with faith, and walk boldly in their light.

And remember the teaching of Charley Pride: when others call you strange, smile — for they see only the shell of your becoming. The dreamer is never truly alone; he walks in the company of all who ever dared to believe in more. So let your dreams rise, even when the world doubts, for they are the truest reflection of who you were born to be — and the surest path to the greatness you were meant to achieve.