2008 Woodie Awards
Living the Dream...Or Not
Reid Kiyabu
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Commentary
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Once upon a time there lived a boy who wanted more than anything to be an anesthesiologist. He dreamed of the day when the survival of a patient rested on his quick thinking, deft hands and ability to administer skeletal muscle relaxants and anesthesia like no tomorrow. Every Christmas list included surgical tools, every Halloween he donned a white lab coat and a plastic stethoscope, every birthday wish was dedicated to aiming for a place no one in his family had ever gone. He was a child possessed, infatuated with a mega-bucks payroll, overt success and the glory of bringing a man, woman or child from the depths of their suffering to the open door of life. Back then there was no dampening his aspirations, no halting his potential vocation, no weakening his elation. Where, then, did that boy of five to seven go? What became of the child who dared to dream big, who knew with such absolution that his destiny lay in a world of solidity and achievement?
The fate of dreams is determined neither by a child's determination nor their stalwart commitment to the prerequisites needed to pursue their intended field, but by the interplay between their talents, learning environment and the school subjects from which they derive the most pleasure. Kids, who think they know what they want to be when they grow up, will find that their dreams are either reaffirmed or rewritten during the duration of their time in school. Any number of school-related factors, such as teacher support, peer pressures and newfound passion for unrelated material, can work to boost or destroy the visions that had become so vivid over years of imagining, working out the details and believing. By the time we are processed and discharged from high school, those of us whose dreams are reborn or undisturbed live happily ever after, bathed in a golden aura signifying ultimate survival. On the other hand, those of us whose dreams are shattered, disabled or setback, may see their goals as distant impossibilities.
The fate of dreams is determined neither by a child's determination nor their stalwart commitment to the prerequisites needed to pursue their intended field, but by the interplay between their talents, learning environment and the school subjects from which they derive the most pleasure. Kids, who think they know what they want to be when they grow up, will find that their dreams are either reaffirmed or rewritten during the duration of their time in school. Any number of school-related factors, such as teacher support, peer pressures and newfound passion for unrelated material, can work to boost or destroy the visions that had become so vivid over years of imagining, working out the details and believing. By the time we are processed and discharged from high school, those of us whose dreams are reborn or undisturbed live happily ever after, bathed in a golden aura signifying ultimate survival. On the other hand, those of us whose dreams are shattered, disabled or setback, may see their goals as distant impossibilities.
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