Student embraces dreams

By Gerald Benson

To any maverick-minded son, daughter, pupil and peer actively engaging in the pursuit of your “financially unstable” dreams: Embrace the criticism that you’re receiving for your courage; people who lose touch with their aspirations are usually the ones who are at the forefront in trying to dim your light. 

Within my first few weeks of being a college student, I have already come to a conclusion about the campus experience: It wants everything you’ve got, and by any means necessary even if that means questioning the validity of your passions, one of the main reasons why I’m sure most of you are here. I have heard the “I don’t really like it, but it’s financial security/my parents want me to/it’s family history” stories countless times, specifically those concerning money. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize the unfortunate need of money, especially for in today’s society. But I also realize that it is only a means, and as a friend of mine once said, “The fact that a large amount of people have to go without in life just because they don’t have enough cash is stupid to me.” Being a music performance major, a career choice that is seen as possibly the least lucrative of professions that someone could choose, I have personally faced the pressures of sometimes feeling like I’ve made the wrong move; any negative things that the people in your life tell or have told you seem to bear more weight. However, I believe that passion and headstrong persistence, if it’s present, almost always overrules human opinion. 

Again, money is just a means.

I believe that, from a sociological and career standpoint, there’s room for everyone. It’s just that we as people are so preoccupied with what “makes bank” that we sometimes fail to realize what makes us happy. Not content…happy. 

What, in your heart, do you feel like you were born to do? With this being the Opinion section, if I really felt it in my heart, I could rant and rave about revolution, protest Box Tops for Education, urge for drastic change in personal interactions between people, and go streaking; but that would only serve blank stares and probably a giant figurative slap in the face from our good ol’ Johnsonian editors about how strong the possibility is of people actually thinking that I can’t help but act this way.

But I digress.  

The truth of the matter is, no one should be afraid to live out their dreams, especially in the midst of all that sets out to destroy it. College should be a time of embracing individuality in ourselves as well as in others; so next time someone tries to tell you what you want is wrong or impractical, tell them that the only thing that’s impractical about what you want to do is not doing it. Ask if they feel the same way about their “dreams.” 

Never let go of yours.