The first ambition I ever had was to be Spider-man. I had no idea how genetically modified spider bites worked, or how to get a genetically modified spider, for that matter. Still, it was Spider-man I wanted to be, and I was not going to settle for anything less. As I voiced out my opinions, I was constantly told that Spider-man never existed, and he was just a figment of an old man's imagination. Granted, that old man was Stan Lee, but the fact remained that Peter Parker was no more real than the Boogeyman under my bed. So with my head bowed, I finally accepted that I would neither swing from sky scrapers, fight the Green Goblin, nor marry Mary Jane Watson.
As I grew a little older, I wanted to be a mad scientist. Not just any scientist, but a mad one; complete with the crazy hairdo and the beer bottle glasses. As you can imagine, that idea too did not sit too well with the folks. "How are you going to make money", they said. Being a kid of 8 or 9, it never bothered me that someday I would be expected to support a household, or hold what the community and society believed to be a "respectable job". I was never a poor student in school, and most relatives I encountered would make comments on how I would make a great doctor or engineer someday. Why doctor? What's wrong with being a mad scientist, I would ask. The answer was always the same. Son, it's just not done.
And so as I grew into a teenager, I became wiser, and started targeting a 'real ambition'.
Yet, two years after deciding on a profession, I think of all the past ambitions I have had, and ask myself this. Did I actually get any wiser, or was I cowed into accepting the limits society imposed on me? Guys, you can be whatever you set your mind to be. If I want to be Spider-man, then damn it, I will be Spider-man. Who is to say what is a respectable ambition, and what is not? The thing about potential is that once you doubt its existence, you automatically impose an extremely unforgiving barrier upon yourself, a barrier that unless broken will haunt your every effort at excellence. The effect of this barrier is like the "brick wall" long distance runners face. At a given point in their run, the runner feels the sudden urge to stop, and at that exact instant, it seems almost impossible to go on, and that the best choice would be to quit the race. However, once the barrier is overcome, the runner becomes extremely invigorated, pushing at their boundaries, and astonishing both themselves, and the crowd with their burst of excellence.
Who is to say we cannot do the same? I'll be bold here and say this. I will be whatever the hell I choose to be, regardless of what society expects of me, and honestly, you should too. Enough of being told what we can and can not do. Enough of having our limits imposed and set upon us. Enough of having our endless potential wasted by years of culling. We are all born with unique hues, yet sadly as we grow, we fade into the same shades of grey as the rest of the crowd. I say, stand out! Chase your dreams, however outlandish they may be. Try your hand at whatever it is you want to do, and if you fail, well at least you tried. Nobody won any awards for dreaming. Leave the dreaming to the dreamers and those who missed their boat. We are the youth of the nation, and we will do.
Go ahead. Chase your dreams. I dare you. I dare us.
So long for now. I'm gonna go look for a radioactive spider.
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