Dreams of a Child

Dreams of a Child

The television show known as Robotech depicts the lives of somewhat average people rising up into new challenges, and defeating those challenges to survive. The cartoon starts off with a young man hoping to stay close to his childhood friend and mentor by becoming a pilot for a fighter squadron. In the cartoon, aired in 1985, the main character achieves his dream, however marginally and begins to improve to the point of becoming a hero among the other characters. Parents always tell their children that they can achieve their dreams if they put their mind to it, as though hoping in some way that their own children can do what they cannot. Unfortunately, not every dream can have a happy ending, and there is a time when a defining moment reveals to person when that dream can no longer be achieved.

A child’s dreams of what they want to be when they grow up are quite varied and it can often seem like those ideas just materialize out of thin air. Given that some dreams can be partially fulfilled by being a small-town actor or a church choir singer on Sundays (M.E. Wood), it seems feasible that every person could live their dreams, while also living in the real world. It’s this kind of optimism and persistence that reaches down into me, and gives me hope that I may one day marginally achieve my own childhood dreams.

Quoting from a poem that I once read in an email: “Never, give up on your dreams.” (Wankei)

The dream of my childhood is probably the same as many dreams that are shared by a good number of children, the dream of flying an aircraft. The television show Robotech was the reason I wished I could fly. It was almost telling me that if I was good enough at flying, then I could go to the places I’d always wanted to go and see for myself. My goal was to be so good at flying, that I would be asked to fly in space to another planet, another solar system, or even another galaxy. For several years of my life, I obsessed with all things that took to the air in flight.

In my last year of education at Edwins Elementary School, I was still blissfully unaware that my dream chances had dropped so radically, that I am still daunted to this day. During that year, my teachers wondered if I had been that student who managed to get by not being able to read. The teachers recommended that I take a test that involved a good deal of reading, which I passed on a grade level above where I was. A few weeks later of continued trouble, a teacher