Dreams…Never Tell Me the Odds

It could all be so simple…

It’s funny how some of your most impactful dreams can be forged. One Saturday morning in 1985, I made a life-changing decision. It was a decision that forever affected me and helped shaped me as the person I am today. I don’t want to oversell here but my self-discovery was on par with the story of Issac Newton sitting under an apple tree. As you know he supposedly had an apple fall on his head and it was at that very moment he begins formulating the law of gravity. What I formulated on that faithful morning right after watching Superfriends, seem to be just as prolific. Well at least in my mind it was.

I decided I wanted to be a ninja when I grew up.

Yes…I said a ninja. You know…the Japanese assassins but…I was gonna use my powers for good. Oh if you could see the vision. I was gonna be the greatest ninja of all-time. I would stand in front of a huge supercomputer much like the Superfriends in the cartoon I just watched. Police chiefs, Presidents, and other heads of state would contact me via my computer and tell me the danger that could potentially affect millions of people worldwide. I would say something clever and whoosh! I was off to find the bad guys, save the world, and be back at home in time for dinner.

There were a couple of slight complications (to name a few) that impeded my plan’s success.

• No martial arts training (and by that I mean no training prior to this decision, none after the decision, and no money for any future training)
• Where was I gonna get a supercomputer from?
• How were world leaders know to communicate me?
• How was I gonna get to the “danger”

Granted these issues being characterized as slight may be a bit of an understatement but I was unbothered by these potential barriers. It was not until my mom’s plainly spoken question that put the brakes on this aspiration and deflated any hope that it could happen.

“Baby, if you’re a ninja how will you earn a living? How are you gonna get paid?”

My eyes widen and my throat became dry. I had no answer…no rebuttal…no contingency. My plans when up in smoke as quickly as they materialized. I was dealt a mighty blow. It threw me off yet I was shaken but not broken. The majority of how I overcame this setback was centered around the fact I was only 5 years old, however, my determination to be bigger and better than myself pushed me forward. I believed anything was possible because no one told me about the impossible. I didn’t need to know how it was unlikely to happen, I needed encouragement to make it happen.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not insinuating that you lie to kids. Don’t give them false hope that all your dreams will be achieved. That would be creating a special brand of megalomaniacs that feel entitled and believe everything should be handed to them.

Hmm, that seems like the general feeling other generations feel about millennials. Oh…so that’s how that happened.

Anywho…we don’t need more individuals with delusions of grandeur but we do need dreamers. Maybe we should put our youth in position to succeed rather than just dousing their dreams early on. If kids show an interest in something, nurture it. If they have an unrealistic plan, help them develop a more realistic plan. No dream should be destroyed.

Dreams are like energy…they can never be destroyed.

Adapted…yes.

Modified…yes

But never destroyed…and yes I just dropped the first law of thermodynamics on you. My second science reference. Boom!

Some dreams can start out as one thing and morph into something else. My desire to become a ninja could have led me to become a martial arts instructor or a Hollywood stuntman. Oh, are a wrestler…damn, I could have been a wrestler. It could have even just taught me more discipline and confidence that would have helped me in any future endeavor.

So if you have kids that want to be gymnasts or Presidents or NBA players or even ninjas, give them all the love and support they need. Teach them to set realistic goals. Show them the benefit of contingency planning. Oh, and above all else…if they are anything like me…