The dreaming faculty

The dreaming faculty, like every other faculty, may be abused. I have been guitly most of the time of doing nothing but dreaming. I would talk hours with my friends and colleagues, spending all our energies in building castles in the air which of course we try to make real but never seem to become real. I must admit that i would be the one coming up with the bright idea but later, let everybody down by not having the grit, resolution and tenacity of purpose to make that castle a reality. I have good friends who have put up with me all these years. I am grateful to God for them. What i am trying to say here is this - i know the truth and it is this - dreams only come true when coupled with hard work and persistent endeavor. This is the general rule for all dreamchasers. The exception is when you have rich and powerful connections or a rich girlfriend or boyfriend or a wealthy husband or wife who can make your dreams come true instantly. As this general truth has not been 100% lived by me - the proportion of my success so far is in proportion to the effort i have put in living this truth. The best i have done so far is but a sorry apology for what i ought to do or might do.

But hard work and persistent endeavor would involve risks - the risk of failure, being the most deterring factor of them all. What if, with so much time, energy and money wasted, the castle fails to be built coupled with the fact that age is catching up and when one has so many other pressing commitments. Dr. Leo Buscaglia has a poem for dreamchasers at such times:-

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out to another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk rejection.

To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love.

Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave.

He has forfeited his freedom.

Only a person who takes risks is free.