By Jose Masawanie, Jun.
Growing up, I was often asked the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? That question was easy to answer when I was in the lower classes of elementary school because all I had to do was parrot what the previous guy had said. Pretty easy. So, turns out everyone in our class wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot, an accountant, a teacher, a policeman or an engineer. Fantastic!
But as we got to the senior classes of elementary school the reality of those professions began to settle in and the enthusiasm gradually wavered. Especially upon learning that you cannot be an accountant or an engineer if you have not memorized the multiplication table, which was always at the back of our notebooks. Pretty radical I know!
In secondary school, Calculus, Map Reading and Company wavered these dreams even more for most people. And then to apply for college most of the time you had to consider your aggregate points before circling MBBS or Bachelor of Electrical Engineering as your first choice. And sometimes you would be redirected to a program which you did not apply for. And then you would end up in a Drama 101 class when you wanted to do Botany. Yeah, pretty dramatic!
What’s the point? just wait I am getting there.
And if you are like me and did BAH (Bachelor of Arts Humanities, pronounced the way it is spelled), and majored some socially unorthodox courses like English, Philosophy, Drama or Classics oh boy!!! The jokes on you are pretty classic. The kind of interrogations that you endure about what you did in college take the form of academic witch-hunting. People take turns asking you: “what will you do with you degree? who will you work as? Who is going to hire you?”
Well, In my case it gets more interesting when I let them know that I am a writer and a poet, and that writing is pretty much what I do. They go like, “dude! You are in Malawi, in Africa, people don’t buy books to ‘read’ here. If people don’t even go to the library to read free books, do you think they are going to buy your books? At this point all I can do is smile at their quizzical faces.
Now here is the point: BECOME YOUR DREAM and take pleasure in whom you have become.
You don’t have to go do a second degree in Economics or Law because that’s the big thing right now. Bloom where you are planted. Believe you me, grass is always greener on the other side. Do what you are passionate about about. if you can’t, be passionate about what you are doing. By the way, nothing wrong with getting an Economics degree on top of your B.A. (English) degree . If that’s what you want, pull a Nike already- Just do it.
Don’t let money, fame or status come in between you and your dream. I know that at the mention of money your eyebrows are already on the match, but please stay with me. I am by no means a minister of the “poverty gospel” (whatever that means); on the contrary I am a “radical” christian who believes in prosperity. My point on money is that, money should not be the point. It should not be the motivation. Neither should fame or status. Become you dream. When you do, these other things will come chasing after you.
Don’t make money your product, its a by-product. Its easy to loose focus, when your focus is on money. And in the end you loose both your dream and the money.
Be what you want to be and be the best in your field. Dream. And unless your dream is to be a dreamer, wake up and become your dream.
DynaThoughts 