The other day I was delivering one of my many "follow your dreams" type comments to one of my classes, when a student asked me what my dreams are. That's not something I think about too often, as I've actually achieved most of my dreams. After a little thought, though, I said, "Well, I want to stand beside my son while we get our black belts together. I want to hold hands with my wife atop the Eiffel Tower, and I want to make a living as a writer."
The first two drew "Awwwww's" from the girls in the class, as if those were the cutest little goals they'd ever heard. Dress 'em up in bunny ears and post them to "I Can Haz Chezburger?" they're so cute. That third one, though, that was the sticky wicket.
"What's stopping YOU Mr. Wright?"
Ah, helluva question, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteI got a similar one via IM on New Years Eve 1999. I was at home on the computer, on call for work with my cell phone next to me just in case all the computers in the world stopped and all the land lines failed. A much younger friend and I were chatting. She had just finished film school. I said something along the lines of "I really admire people with the courage to follow their dreams." She asked what my dream was. I told her I always wanted to be a writer. She said, "So why don't you write?"
Just that easy, and just that hard.