The Slaps of Reality

A:” What would you like to be in the future?”

B: “I would like to be the next president of United Nation”

A: “Oh, you were young and naïve. I was like you when I was younger and I think you should not aim that high so it won’t hurt when you fail.”

I remember some times when I told people about my dream to be the future finance minister of Indonesia, people will always react. And there are two kinds of reaction: support or slaps of reality. The type of support I could get would be: That is a great dream, Timmy. You can do it and go for it!

And here I will talk about the slaps of reality…

I had a conversation with couple of colleagues during lunch time; I told them about my dream about being the finance minister. There was one surprising reaction: Oh, you are so young and naïve. I was like you when I was younger. Go ahead and pursue your dream. It sounded like a great support but I wasn’t because the sarcastic tone of behind the support.

After a year I could finally understand the reason behind the sarcastic tone.

I do realize that some people, when they were younger, they could conquer the world. Yes, I bet you are one of them. However, some of them become bitter because reality doesn’t turn out like what they dreamed of. On the other hand, I witness some people who actually surpassed what they dreamed of.

 The bitter people believe that reality is cruel and they believe that it happens to everyone. And that is where everything related. These people love to give the slaps of reality to younger generation with the justification as if someone is aiming too high; it will hurt when they fall.

I might be young and naïve, but I think people should stop trying to explain slaps of reality to younger generation. As humans, we are all a dreamer and nobody knows what will happen in the future. For whatever dream people dream of, support them even you thought it is impossible (And I think you should learn to believe that nothing is impossible). Don’t be those people who think they know what the future holds. And even you really really think it is impossible for someone to reach their dream, let the reality slaps them because it is not your job to discourage them.