Video shows the Lee DeWyze motorcade arriving at St. James School where Lee DeWyze graduated from grade school. Some still shots also included from inside the school and his exit. Also some video of Lee’s brother Michael Lee DeWyze — saying hello.
Most boys at heart can remember being a middle school-age boy in some boring class daydreaming of being something special — a doctor, a firefighter, a star shortstop, a home run hitter, a star basketball guard, a rock star. Hmmmm, rock star. You don’t have to go to as much school. Your career doesn’t get cut short by some nagging sports injury. You get to play your favorite music in front of thousands of people. And you get to express your emotion and your talent through your art, if you are truly gifted. And the girls … almost all girls love rock stars. Screaming, crying girls. Oh, to be just like the adored — the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, Simon & Garfunkel, Rick Springfield, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Justin Timberlake, the Foo Fighters, Creed, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and more.
That middle school boy might look around the classroom and imagine showing his classmates someday that he can be what he believes in his dream. That cute girl two rows back that doesn’t even notice him will know someday. The teacher that scowls at some bad grammar will know, too. That boy will show them someday.
But not many do get the chance to show their stuff. Finishing school, paying rent for an apartment, getting a job, and buying a car can all get in the way of sticking to your dreams, and making them come true. And perhaps some blow it by aiming too hard to impress others, instead of looking into their own hearts to nurture their talent. Then that boy has to wonder if he really has the talent. Does he want to practice and work that hard for his art? But somewhere and at some point in time, leaders know their destiny. And maybe it helps to have nothing to fall back to. Stay hungry. Stay foolish, as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would say.
Anyway, with a little bit of luck, and a lot of hard work, and a lot of talent; Lee DeWyze is beginning to see that dream come alive. And tens of thousands of people in Chicagoland, Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights got to witness that dream come alive, too. And they watched the humble American Idol Lee DeWyze in shocked disbelief experience the dream unfold, as they watched the effect of their die hard support affect him, and help that dream unfold. His dropped head, his head tilted back, and Lee’s hands covering his face told it all.
When Lee’s motorcade pulled up the driveway at St. James toward the back parking lot of this school, you couldn’t help but feel that you were standing in Lee’s daydream. Some daydream he had about eleven or twelve years ago when he was a student here. At St. James School in Arlington Heights, you have to wonder if that is not the place where the seeds for that dream were planted. Only Lee knows where the dream started to gain momentum. And it will probably take some time reflecting someday to put all of the pieces of this miracle together in his mind. Meanwhile, it is time to get back to work. And now hundreds of thousands support Lee DeWyze and want to feel responsible for inspiring him to do his best.
And best of all, Lee DeWyze inspires us, the doctors, the firefighters, the shortstops, the nurses, the waitresses, the paint salesmen to the do the best for our lives and for those that we help by transferring Lee’s winning ways to our jobs. Everybody loves a winner, and loves to learn how it’s done. Just ask the excited students at St. James whose dreams are just starting to take hold.
This article is so beautifully written and it touches our hearts. It is so true that ‘at St. James School in Arlington Heights, you have to wonder if that is not the place where the seeds for that dream were planted. Only Lee knows where the dream started to gain momentum. And it will probably take some time reflecting someday to put all of the pieces of this miracle together in his mind.’ …To succeed in life and make all your dreams come true, you have to believe in yourself and never let the thorns get in your way!