Dreams

What did you dream when you were in junior high school? I wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice. That dream was eventually usurped by another long ago, but I still remember how powerful it was to hear that I could do anything if I tried hard. Actually, I remember hearing that throughout my schooldays and even now. During discussions with teachers and my adult class I learned that they believe big dreams are not possible. In fact, many people don't tell children that they can do anything. They don't think it's true and they don't want to give children false hopes. One woman said that it's ok for little, little kids to dream big, but older children understand that the have to be born into a certain family in order to be prime minister or company president or a top government official. I think, in America, to some extent, that is also true... but definitely not the same as it is here. I can't imagine telling a child that they can't do something or just expecting them to understand that they shouldn't dream big. This discussion arose because of all the Obama hype over here. Teachers, students and random people in the street are celebrating the American presidency. It's still all over the news here and one teacher said that she even started crying when she heard his speech. They tell me it's amazing that he's president with no money, connections or family fame. They say that in Japan, he would never be prime minister. America has alot of problems, but in the end, many people can and do change their situations, for better or for worse. Maybe you didn't think that was an American trait, but we are definitely optimistic dreamers, which is part of our charm (new ideas, creativity) and part of our problem(job hopping, lack of commitment, etc). It is interesting to hear about it from the complacent Japanese perspective(lifetime 'job marriage', perseverance, etc). If someone told me I couldn't do something, I would try my hardest to do it, just to spite them. Not so here...they seem to swallow their dreams without a hint of indigestion (the nail that sticks out gets hammered down). I guess that makes sense, since the individual isn't important, it's the collective that ultimately matters. Individual desires are superseded from childhood, so why should dreams be any different? If I tried to swallow my dreams, I would end up vomiting them back out. They can't stay inside me; they don't belong there.