Dreams (GBE 90)

So what are your dreams?

Or as I have put it in my work, what do you want to be when you grow up? 

Of course, there are the two types of dreams.  Sleeping dreams with fantasies so great we tremble at their appearance, flying naked around stone castles, or defending maidens against dragons.  Do we win or lose?  In the end it doesn’t matter because we wake up.

Then you have the waking dreams.  The mirages of goals shimmering in the desert, shifting and fading as we trudge along the sands of life.  And when we reach one, we realize it was smaller than we though.  Or worse, like the new Coke commercial, it is just another billboard pointing across to a distant mountain, daring us to follow.  

When I was in college, I had the dream of being a radio disc jockey.  I would hear the voices come over the speakers and think what a cool gig.  All I have to do is just sit and talk about music. I went so far as to volunteer at the campus station and I found out a lot of back story.  Programming meetings and preparation for each show ate a lot of time.  I didn’t mind much, really.  I didn’t have a girl friend at the time, so all time was my own.  And I would wait for Sunday at 8:00PM for my four hours of jazz.  I learned so much of the artists and honed a delivery style that was a bit unique. 

But it was just another billboard pointing across to a mountain if I wanted to continue.  Ultimately, I chose to chase another mirage of business and accounting.  Did it suit my nature?  No.  But a steady income seemed to be more important at the time.   

I have spent this week at a new workplace.  First new one for me in fifteen years and the event have me thinking about how we perceive our dreams.   Are they goals?  Or are they just a series of illusions and false scenarios to push us on in this life?