Hey, you! You!… Yeah, you! The one with that red hoodie and those ugly, white-washed jeans! Yeah, you don’t know me? Erm… Of course you wouldn’t know me, pal! I saw you yesterday walking on that avenue, but I guess you didn’t even notice me. (In my mind, I new you wouldn’t’!) But I’ve gotta tell you something that I’ve been itching to tell you…
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But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. –Jeremiah 20:9, NIV I have a vivid imagination. When I was growing up, I had a “dream factory” stocked in my brain. I remember that I wanted to be many things. Once, I wanted to be a doctor –or at least a mad scientist. Then, I wanted to be a politician-and a decent one. Later, I became infatuated with SimCity (and I still am) and soccer stadiums, and I wanted to be a big-stadium architect. And now, I’m working to become an accountant. There were other escapes of the imagination in the to and fro. With generic construction set blocks and rogue game pieces, I used to build stages for concerts and events. In a computer and a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, I tried to “tally” the official votes of imaginary song contests I built in my mind with such pomp and circumstance. Or I pictured myself on an exotic location somewhere in Latin America, eliminating someone from a cerebral and fictitious reality show. Some days, I played with my cousins to make-believe I was a telenovela hunk, or the “chosen one” of any mysterious adventure. In other days, I believed I was an obnoxious game show host, and (as my family says), I hastily interviewed them. (No prizes were won, though; they must’ve received a pure dose of fun-and awkwardness!) Conversely, paper, pens, a blackboard, and books were all I needed to play teacher with the air and the wind. However, I always felt those students were always pestering me! Yes, my childhood was pretty much normal. Until I met reality. Reality forced me to think things in a negative light. Now I had to look at things in a negative light. Society was force-feeding me money, looks, and appearance in order to make my choices. And it wasn’t helpful. No, not helpful at all. I had to look at doctors in court for malpractice suits, mad scientists being compared to psychos and social rejects, architects taking the blame for making unsafe and eye-displeasing buildings, and accountants embezzling money to their own paychecks. My fake stages would break, my tallies could be easily manipulated, and my shows could be rigged. Real-life hunks were either meatheads or perverts, game show hosts could not fulfill their cash prize promises, and teachers would only teach how to make easy paychecks every two weeks. I saw that people who bled and sweat and shed tears for years in something extravagant were working menial jobs that barely covered medium wage and a health care plan. I learned that people were evil, egotistic, self-centered, and didn’t care to step on others if it made them feel better about themselves. I was appalled that people could be unfaithful to God. It was the day dreams died. It was the fateful day where I thought darkness was striking the foundations of this world to its very core. I never thought that day would come-no, not in this place, not in this age, not in this hour, not even in this century! For the first time in my life, I knew why people had tears streaming down their cheeks. While many have lost their families or belongings, others lost their dreams. And dreams are the reason the world keeps spinning 'round and round. And without dreams, how can we hope in a better tomorrow? As I write these words, I think of the people who have lost their way. Painless. Hopeless. Faithless. Having no guile, feeling no love. I think of those in the world who are hungry, famished, poor, lame, downtrodden. I just can't picture the pain many people are surfacing, like a woman who's going through childbirth. They look up to the heavens for some help; they need help. Friends, these thoughts are too much to bear. No, I am not calling to ignore our reality. It is important to live in it, I must concede that. But what is the point of living if we can't dream? Isn't our Creator the very One who gave us the chance of dreaming something new? Isn't every day a new chance of dreaming something new -and actually doing it- in our lives? I dedicate this year to those who have lost the chance to dream. This is the time to believe in dreams again. It's time to start over again. |
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