by Jaybelle Mataro
Perhaps when you were young, you were asked the inevitable question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
One might say they want to be a teacher, an astronaut, a doctor, or even become the president of the country. But what is bound to happen when you don’t have high hopes for dreams in the first place?
"Dreams encompass our goals in life. It gives a sense of purpose, sense of direction, and meaning, and of course, they give hope. They make our lives worth living"
To some extent, innocent kids may have soaring ambitions, but as they come across real-world situations while growing up, aspirations are pulled to the ground for various reasons.
A study by Dream Project PH of 614 teenagers from 54 provinces in the Philippines discovered that eight out of 10 Filipinos do not have a dream. The research found five major reasons behind this phenomenon — lack of conversations, lack of role models, limited perspective, limited opportunities, and limited resources.
In this light, Glessie Cantada, guidance counselor of the De La Salle University— Dasmariñas Student Wellness Center’s (SWC) College of Liberal Arts and Communication (CLAC) said a person would find it hard having a dream to nurture if there is lack of communication at home.
“Lack of conversation, role modelling, limited perspective, limited ‘yung opportunity, and limited resources, those can be conglomerating factors. Totoo naman ‘yun. Mahirap talagang magkaroon ng dream ang isang tao kung hindi naman namo-model ‘yun sa family,” Cantada said.
(Translation: Lack of conversations, role modeling, limited perspective, limited opportunities, and limited resources can be conglomerating factors. It’s true. It’s hard for a person to have a dream if it’s not modeled inside the family.)
To further understand the notion of dreams of the Filipino youth, Cantada, who worked with countless teenagers for over 24 years, said the youth need to be properly guided in order for their dreams to be properly nurtured.
Defining a dream
Maybe at least once in a young person’s life, everyone hears the usual query: ‘what is your dream job?’ At first, it may seem like a simple question. However, if you think about it adequately, it feels vague, yet complicated. Complex enough where some adults still do not know the answer to it.
From the standpoint of a counselor, Cantada explained her interpretation of a dream.
“When you say dream, it’s a cherished aspiration. It’s the ambition of the person or ideal,” she stated.
In our community, dreams are oftentimes linked with what the future holds for an individual.
“It’s a vision of what [do] you want to be in the future. It’s like foresight. They can provide a sense of purpose and direction,” Cantada added.
However, Cantada clarified that dreams do not always equate to accomplishments and wealth.
“In our society, we associate dreams with success, status in life, how much money one has in the bank. Sa akin (for me), it should not be,” she professed.
Dreams are not just about having successful careers in the coming times. Dreams are also about building yourself for personal development.
“Dreams can be self-growth. It is [an] essential and important messenger in the process of self-development,” she said.
Finding your dream
The journey of discovering aspirations is a tedious process. However, the good news is, you are not alone. The guidance counselor claimed that this is a shared effort.
“It should be a concerted and collaborative effort, (not only in the) part of the individual,” she stated.
She also recalled that educational institutions play a huge role in motivating the youth in unearthing their ambitions in life.
“On the part of the school, continuous education (should be given) to the students. Students should be empowered. Students should keep on dreaming,” she claimed.
But most importantly, Cantada emphasized that dreams are fueled by self-motivation. It is crucial that the drive should come within the person.
“You have to find it for yourself. (What pushes you to have a dream?) It is something from the inside,” she highlighted.
Why should you dream?
Cantada primarily gave prominence to the importance of dreams to the individuality of a person.
“Dreams encompass (our) goals in life. (It gives a) sense of purpose, sense of direction, and meaning, and of course, they give hope. They make our lives worth living,” she enunciated.
On the other hand, the dream of a single person does not only benefit his/herself, but it also builds a well-established nation.
“It gives a sense of contribution,” she declared.
Cantada also claimed that growth initiated by dreams is beneficial for everyone.
“Hindi lang ikaw ‘yung mag-gogrow, but the person around you. Parang nakakapagbigay ka din ng inspiration,” she added.
(Translation: You are not the only one who will grow, but also the people around you. You give inspiration to society.)
Language and Dreams
Daryl Pasion, a teacher in language and culture, has a different way of looking at the situation. He believes that language exerts influence on the day-to-day operations of a person.
“We may not be aware of it all the time, but our language guides our everyday life. We can think of it as some form of space where we live. And when we do make some changes with how we approach our language, the form of this space changes too, allowing us to gain different perspectives and to navigate other dimensions of seeing things,” he said.
Pasion is known for his article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, ‘Skip telling our kids to dream high’ where he said that instead of teaching the youth to dream high, we should teach them to dream deep.
He claims that the use of language may divert the kids’ perspective into finding a new path.
“It is important that we use our language to change and redirect narratives. This will surely help the youth discover paths they never knew existed,” he added.
From his stance, the idea of a dream does not have a concrete existence, but can be formed through narratives.
“Ambition is something abstract, something that does not exist yet, but it takes shape and form through language. The future that we believe we could have is made up of narratives running in our head, and narratives are made possible because of language,” he claimed.
In respect to the children who have not found their aspirations in life yet, Pasion said that through the right use of language, people can help establish the ambitions of the kids.
“Ambition is language in our head. It is important that we feed children with narratives that could build them up, not destroy them,” he stated.
Pasion also recalled that the depth of a dream is embedded in the nature of the Filipinos.
“What I love most about "mangarap nang malalim" (or dream deep) is that "lalim" (or deep) is rooted from the relational and collective nature of Filipinos,” he said.
Above all, he emphasized the importance of having a collective dream for the nation.
“A nation is not a dream of one, but a dream of many. It is a collective aspiration. It is important, therefore, that when we dream, we dream not only for ourselves, but also for others and with others,” he highlighted.
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