Stars In the Morning Light
I had a dream once. Whether I was in it or not, I don’t quite remember. It seems like it wove itself carefully through my mind, sometimes with my family and sometimes with an ambiguous one, like tendrils of mist that snake slowly through the grass of a cool spring morning. This family-they were always happy, always together, and always doing something incredibly fun despite the fact that they lived alone on a small island. But, right before I woke up, I remembered one last thing. Yes, the family was on the island lake. Yes, they had a very expensive looking motor boat, and, of course, they were all waterskiing from the back of it- every single one of them. It’s kind of ridiculous isn’t it, all the kinds of dreams we can have. I know they’re not real, but isn’t it interesting the things our minds can come up with? They can be frightening, they can be fantastic, and sometimes they can be just plain silly, but I guess what fascinates me the most is that they’re almost always different.
But as fun as sleep-dreams are, my favorite dreams are the ones I get when I’m awake. I’ve had a good many after 18 years, most of which I remember from when I was young. Oh, the days that I dreamed of becoming a mailman. Whether it was that amazing box with the flag that entranced me or that sweet car, I can’t quite be sure, but now, as I reflect, that seems to be one of my more frightening dreams. But since then, so many more have come and gone: my dream of becoming a cowboy, a veterinarian, an astronaut, and a fireman, my dream of becoming President, my dream to work at NASA, my dream to get into MIT, my dream of making a perfect score on the SAT, and last, but not least, my dream of becoming the ultimate Pokémon master. Ok, I know that last one seems stupid now but when I was ten, it seemed like it had potential.
Currently, my dream is to become a mechanical engineer and create some device to save the world, which might or might not include the prevention of energy crisis, world hunger, mass famine, weather related disasters, killer bee attacks, and/or polar bear extinction. Now this is just a blue print, but I’m pretty sure that given ten to twenty years I can make it work. Impossible? Is this a dream that will end up like most, forgotten and faded inside a part of me that knows it is nothing but a wish, for that is all dead dreams are, or is it something more, something real? I think it is really up to me to decide, as far as I am concerned. Hopefully, I need not remind any of you of the dreams of explorers and inventors, despots and kings, scientists and athletes; theirs are the ones that have shaped this world and they are the proof that with enough vision and, shall I say it, chutzpa, that any dream can become something more.
My step-dad, not too long ago, told me he dreamed of something as simple as an installed sprinkler system, but then right afterward he said that it would probably never get done. That happens more and more often, you know; people think of something that only they can see come together, then they’ll get this look in their eye and let out some dream that seems so near yet so incredibly far that they let it slip away. My dad and stepmom, for a while, were planning on opening their own pet kennel. They had the money, the vision, the building layout; they even had the spot picked out and everything. That dream would have come to fruition had it not been for the divorce that broke them apart. I know that dreams must always change because we can never prepare ourselves for what life will throw at us. I think people blink and they find themselves in a dead-end job, a dead-marriage, or even just a plain, old dead-end. Dreams change, but they never have to die. I know we are young and graduating high-school; the possibilities for our futures are unlimited. Today it might be easy to dream of something great, but times will get tough and it is then you must hold on to the dream that once drove you. If you don’t, it will slip away like the stars in the morning light, and every time you wake up you’ll see it again, if not just for a moment, before it is erased again by the realities of life.
I know I’m no Martin Luther King. Most of my dreams are unusual and farfetched, but I do know that our dreams can have substance. They are important because they hold the promises of our future. But as rich as any of those promises might be, they are all empty if never fully fulfilled. My current dream is ambitious, but I would like to think that all of you have dreams like mine with the same potential and promise of making a difference. If we each strive to see our own dream become the new reality, then, chances are, at least one of us will hit that jackpot and achieve the power to actually solve our energy problems or even get rid of all those pesky Africanized honey bees. They say we are the future; if we never stop, who is to say we can’t be?
I cherish those few dreams that linger in the waking hours of the morning, dreams like that happy family waterskiing on that smooth island lake. I will never stop dreaming, not until the day I die. I vow to live my life on the wisps between the shadows of sleep and time so that I will never lose sight of the dreams that promise me the sweetest memories and the most resplendent sunsets. Don’t let them slip away.
