Do not lose hold of the dreams you once dreamed
Posted by The Skyliner on April 22nd, 2009
Matt Huff
Staff Writer
If you have not had a chance to hear Susan Boyle’s performance of “I Dreamed a Dream,” please look it up and watch it as soon as you put this paper down. She is an unemployed, unmarried, forty-seven year old woman that had a dream to sing in front of a large crowd, and her result is simply unreal.
The song she sings is from Les Miserables, one of the most celebrated stories in the Western canon. A major theme rampant in the novel is the power of dreams, the desire to become something better. This specific song is in reference to Fantine, an abandoned mother who is forced to survive on her own. She desperately pleas for a better life, lamenting that “life has killed the dream I dreamed.”
How many of us give up on our dreams? Naturally, not many of us would admit that we have hung our dreams and ambitions at the door, never to don again. We like to look at our many years ahead and pretend we will always have time. Unfortunately, we tend to settle, to reduce our once extravagant dreams of life and ambition to a mere matter of convenience. We rest in the habits of accepting something less than what we wanted, excusing it in the name of “becoming an adult.”
What happened? Why must we put down our child-like dreams and wonder with every passing year? It is so crucial that we keep a firm grasp of our young dreams, refusing to let them drift through our fingers like sand. As we grow older, those memories and dreams we once cherished so tightly seem to become silly in the coming of age. We lose sight of those castles in the sky, burying our noses to the ground and minding only the next step we’re taking.
We are a poor generation to believe that we must settle. Life is full and it is out there for the taking, only we must believe it will be there when we reach for it. So often we can’t grab the stars because we pretend to be content with sticks. We must learn to reclaim our childhood dreams; we must take back what we stole from ourselves. Remember that castle in the sky, dust off the blueprints and build.
As summer approaches, recall those June days of the past. Climb trees, blare songs with the windows down, hold someone’s hand; remember the beauty of life and the beauty of dreaming. We cannot allow the self-worth enemy to win any longer, persuading each of us that we are not good enough and must settle for something less. Big dreams come from big hearts and to believe that that means nothing is a shame. Stretch your heart out and follow every dream, no matter how far or impossible it may seem. Don’t let life kill your dreams; don’t you dare.