Nothing ever quite prepares you for the harsh reality of the "real world." You go through your whole life believing in things that shatter at the first bitter taste of reality. As a child you see life in one of the most amazing perspectives imaginable, but when you grow up and realize that the world doesn't live up to your standards, it's almost traumatic.
Growing up is hard enough to do, but add on all of the extra problems that we are are being confronted with in the world today, and you will realize that being young in the world is a scary thing to face. As the youth of the world, we are not only faced with the responsibility to fix what those before us have messed up, but also with the responsibilty to make a better life for ourselves and for those to come after us. It is almost impossible to even begin to comprehend the responsibilities that await me once I leave college.
As a child I always imagined living happily, growing up, meeting Mr. Right, and eventually having a family and home of my own. While I still hope that this will happen for me, my other dreams from my childhood seem so far away. I never thought about many of the major issues facing the world, then again, I was never expected to. Back then I was never really affected by what happened outside of my home, and while I am grateful to my parents for sheltering me, I wish that I was more prepared to handle everything that is going on in the world now.
Between the wars the now seem to be endless and countless, and the hatred and depravity that seem to be spreading, what hope is there for those dreams that have been all but given up on? I think back on everything that I once hoped and longed to do as a child and wonder what my life would be like if those dreams and aspirations came true for me. It is my belief that it's a sad world if children stop to dream because of the circumstances in which they live. Dreams are what formed society as it is today, if those dreams are lost, what hope is there for the future?
There's so much that's wrong with the world today that it makes me sick. There are homeless people in our country, people starving world-wide, and our environments are being abused. I never thought as a child I've have to face depleting our natural resources or Global Warming. It's all so overwhelming. Look around the world around you and just think about what it would have been like to live 100 or more years ago. At a time when there were more trees than anything, sure we have some great things in life now, but what would someone from 100 years ago say about the way we live, act, and treat one another?
I've always been known as "the dreamer" in my group of friends. One day I expressed my thoughts to CJC and her exact words were, "If you stop dreaming and believing, what hope does that leave the rest of us?" I still have faith that things have a chance of righting themselves in the world, but only time will tell. I may not have the idealic childhood dreams that I used to, but I still dream of something better, of something more.
Jen
2 comments:
Hmmm. It sounds like the challenge is trying to connect your dreams of what the world "should" be like with what you find the "real world" to *really* be like. Given the realities of life, you can either give up your dreams or try that much harder to make your dreams happen. I wonder which one you'll end up choosing?
Childhood dreams are one of the relics in our life we must treasure. If we forget what it was like to believe, trust, and want to be or live as something, then where does that leave us? We grow up and are hit with reality, most childhood dreams are shattered by this event, but never forget what it was like to want something with your whole heart. Realistic or not, childhood dreams are a beautiful way of seeing the world as a child again, and a precious link to years gone by. Always remember that.
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