The year is new, and all of my friends are in their mid to early twenties, so I hear a lot about “dreams.” I get nearly the same reaction to hearing people talking about “dreams” that I get when hearing about, say, hagus.
The truth is that on the nature of having dreams I am rather agnostic. No, more than that. I simply don’t believe in their value. I’m tired of hearing about them. The time to dream is when one is asleep, and having dreams for your life is something that shouldn’t be indulged in too much after... well, I’d say twelve.
And I saying life is meaningless, that one shouldn’t have goals? Certainly not. What I am proposing is taking these things seriously. Oprah thinks dreaming and finding your passion is vital. I don’t agree. Say, I had a dream about writing,. I might say, “I want to be a published writer at age fill-in-the-blank and make so much money and live here and do that and this and....” And this dream has a way of remaining just that, a dream. And it’s also my privelege, centered around my desire.
A sense of mission operates in a far different manner: I have a gift for words, therefore I ought to put it to use and put it to use well, however I can. Part of this is publishing, but that’s only a part. Maybe wealth will come, maybe it won’t. Certainly I will have to sacrifice, having a gift also means having to give back. There, it’s a very cut and dry way to look at things, but it also seems to be the way to effectively accomplish them.
In this day and age we are very much centered upon what is owed us, and what we want and how we can acheive all the things we desire. In all too few venues is it forgotten that we owe a great deal to each other, that service is required of a human beings, and that to one who is given much, much is demanded.