Lately I have been thinking a lot regarding, graduation and what follows.

Being a student, there are always some well defined goals directing you of where to go, guiding you towards the end, reassuring you of your sense of purpose, telling you of what you ought to do. Just like a railway track. No matter what the obstruction along the tracks, the pathway is always still clear to you, along with the destination.

But upon graduating, reaching that final destination along the railway track, you will be stepping out into an ocean. No signposts offering guidance, no single track to travel on, no clear or definite destinations anywhere near you. Just a vast ocean seemingly with no boundaries. Occassional waves crashing into you, sometimes pushing you towards and sometimes away from the destination. Loneliness as you are thrown into total unfamiliarity. A persistent and maybe tiny fear tugging at your heart with every baby step you take. Hoping and praying that the destination or at least, signs of it will appear soon and that it is a destination you have desired.

A seemingly boundary-less ocean and me alone inside this picture.

From another perspective, perhaps, or life would be too bleak.

It also signifies the endless opportunities all around, the ability to carve out our own journey, the freedom to spread our wings and soar, the empowerment to dream out a destination and by all means, reach it by fighting through this ocean of doubt, confusion, insecurity, fear, failures.

For I am sure, once we reach our dream destination, the "doubt, confusion, insecurity, fear, failures" will be something we look back on and smile with a sigh as we hold on to what we gained through them: "faith, peace of mind, security, confidence, successes".

Speaking of a dream destination. In a sense, the meaning of 'dream' has evolved into being too literal, nowadays. People dream a 'dream' and continue to see it as a 'dream'.

Why did this happen I wonder?

When we graduate, we are all full of hope, expectations and passionate dreams. We cannot wait to contribute to the society, to exceed our own expectations, to achieve something, to savour success, to be the person we always dreamt of being.

But, it is hardly ever so easy, isn't it? Out of the billions of people in this world, or in a more realistic sense, out of the hundreds of employees in that small company you are working for, how significant are you really? Before long, we realize achievement and success seems far, even the mere wish to be contributing seems doubtful. Then, you wonder where that 'person you dreamt of being' has gone to. And if you are not careful, will you forget about 'this person'. Or, have you already given up 'this person'?

The Age of Frustration. Before you know it, you have become one of the many 'faceless', 'robotic' working machines you once promised of never being, on the streets. Out of convenience. Due to a lack of fighting spirit. With that, you are drifting alone in the wide ocean, being swept by the current, admitting your own defeat. Or maybe, you are anchoring yourself at that very spot in the ocean, unmoving and firm not due to strength, but of fear to change.

So does that mean, dreams will always be 'dreams'?

Then can we say that it is cruel to be encouraged to follow our dreams or to even have a dream? To be pouring out our heart and soul, betting all our hopes, building our passion, chasing endlessly, protecting and defending, and growing on this dream of ours ever so sincerely and innocently. Only to know that, it will not come true. Or maybe rather than it being a process of attaining, it is actually a process of accepting the impossibility of attaining this so-called dream? Again, is that just too cruel?

So we are all doomed to become another graduate. Just another, any other graduates out there.

But if everyone is to think like that, if everyone is to throw away all their dreams or to not have a dream at all. What is there left in us? We will just become an empty shell, surviving just from the biological and chemical processes driving our organs which would otherwise be as dead as our soul. Life would be so empty that I will not even be able to stand firm and strong against the strong winter gusts.

Dreams are there. . . to keep us alive, or at least, to make us feel alive. They might not come true at all, but do we really gain nothing out of it? What about along the way? False starts, failures, shortcomings, disappointments . . . sad as they may seem, surely they are important and forms the essence of life. For without them, how will we learn to fight for what we are and to appreciate what we have?

Maybe we have been too confused and hopeful in this overly-commerciliazed 'dreams come true' concept. Take another look, open up your mind, discover another meaning to it.

We might not be really all that special if compared to the billions of people out there. But we are definitely special to a few of those very important people in our lives.

Knowing that, perhaps we are really asking for too much sometimes.
Live with your dreams.

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