The importance of dreams

(from Lessons that cannot be thought - a child's perspective) Dreams are very important. They are an integral part of our personalities. If we pay attention to them, they could even be guide-posts. But not all dreams occur during sleeping hours, and those you never forget. I will give you an example. My brother and I learned to swim the hard way. As soon as Mother dropped us off at the train station, I knew that we were in the midst of a life and death situation. We were on our way to summer vacation, our first time away from home. I still remember how, between hundreds of jumping and screaming kids, I was dying of thirst, but unable to get anyone’s attention as they were passing drinks around. I had no choice, but to lean out the window, open my mouth and catch a few rain drops. And that was just the beginning. For the next two weeks, every sunny day, we found ourselves crawling at the bottom of the shallow end of a swimming pool, alternated by momentary floats – which we called swimming. Day- by -day, as our finger tips were getting bloodier, our determination grew. Come to think of it, all that suffering came with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Still, I would not recommend this experience to anyone. By the time we returned home, I became obsessed with my newly acquired skill, and soon needed new ones to support it. My motivation had no boundaries: I learned to lie and cheat in order to raise money for admission fees to various pools; discovered how to stitch my own bathing suits, and within months, I was a disciplined diver and 'master' of every possible swim stroke. This went on for a few years. When my school solicited volunteers to join a territorial swimming competition, I thought of all the disadvantages of being small, lacking professional training and experience. But I knew, that having the opportunity of using an Olympic pool - was something I could not resist. This is what I longed for and often dreamt of. On our way to the competition, no one talked to me. Being the only volunteer from my grade, the other girls either did not know or cared less to ask my name. But I heard them feverishly voicing their concerns about, taller, better trained, more privileged kids we were going to be up against from other schools. I wanted to get off the bus, but it all happened too fast – we arrived, changed, lined up, paired with same age groups and heard the first anticipated gun shot. Being put on the spot, I remember flying in the water pushing hard to gain advantage due to my small stature, and swimming with all my might while staying within the dividing line. Finally, my dreams were coming through – I thought, “I am in heaven”. Later, standing in a huge crowd, exhausted, but completely satisfied, I did not even notice that people were asking for the winners to step forward. All eyes were on me, but I did not care – I was still dreaming. Still, on the way home that day, I noticed, that everyone knew who to ask for advise for strong long and fast swim strokes. "Copyright © 2007, Ildiko David, All Rights Reserved