Everyday Canvas

Chasing Dreams

Prompt: "Sometimes, if you aren't sure about something, you have to jump off the bridge and grow wings on your way down." Danielle Steel
What is your take on this?

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Truth be told, I am not good at jumping off bridges. Even watching bungee jumpers on TV makes my head spin. I also doubt that I'll ever grow wings. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I am way too far from being an angel or a bird. Now that I have swept the physical phenomena aside, let me check on the metaphoric meaning of what this author means to say.

My guess is, this quote has to do with dreams. The author means to say that we should try every possible path, no matter how un-doable, and just jump into making a dream reality. On the plus side, to pursue a dream gives life a purpose and hope for the future. If a person doesn't strive for his dream, what is the purpose of his life?

Still, all life has a purpose, I would say, even a seemingly purposeless one because of the effect it has on those surrounding it. So what if we live because the others want us to? What is wrong with that? Isn't living for others a dream in itself?

My question is, in order to reach an impossible dream, do we have to fight windmills, a la Don Quixote? Wouldn't it make more sense to dream a difficult yet possible dream? By this, I don't mean we should settle for something easy to do, but we shouldn't aim so high that, like Icarus, we get our wings burned and fall back to earth.

For example, if I dreamt of exploring Alpha Centauri in a spaceship in this day and age, I don't think I could find anyone or anything willing to catapult me into space. Even if I did, I'd probably perish on the way over.

On the other hand, no matter how ridiculous or silly a dream might be, it’s never okay to just throw it out the window. If I have the dream of exploring Alpha Centauri, who can stop me from studying astronomy and watching the skies through telescopes, even at my age?

Giving up on our dreams is like giving up on life. Besides, working toward a dream is healthy as it builds up character. Also, in time, we learn we have a responsibility to that dream. It may just be that the dream we work toward may open other avenues to explore, other dreams to dream. Then, who knows, maybe even the most impossible dream can be possible, and one day people may travel to Alpha Centauri, based on the technological discoveries before them that someone like me might have initiated.