Don’t let practicality diminish your dream

I've always looked down on people who were intelligent, came from loving families and had the opportunity to dream, but chose not to.

"Sell-outs," I called them, for going to college to study a profession that would make them money. I questioned why someone would actually want to stand in a tiny white box all day and organize bottles (a pharmacist), or stare at a screen writing lines and lines of code (computer engineer). When were their dreams forgotten? Did they even realize what had happened?

I blamed the general structure of college itself. It sends people on quick paths to professions neatly outlined in admissions pamphlets, disguising practicality through the illusion of choice.

But in my mind, much of what many would call "success" was really the extinguishing of a sufficient amount of wide-eyed passion in favor of a focus on material goals.

Nowadays, we need to go to college to get a decent job. And many of us will start out our lives in debt because of it. Though I suppose we wouldn't be true Americans if we weren't in debt.

We worry about our future children. Will we have the means to raise them in Hawaii? Send them to college? Provide for them all of the opportunities we were provided? Somehow, the exciting fantasy of deciding "what I want to be when I grow up" complicates itself, and many sacrifice themselves to survive and provide.

Maybe some of my peers are on their way to becoming "successful" by landing prestigious jobs in large companies. They might end up believing that they are spending the hours of their lives the way that they "should," as if they have achieved something worthy in itself. Others will enjoy what they can, and live through their hope for their children.

I wrote this piece out of fear that my thoughts were dragging me toward this mindset -- that money was starting to taint and shape my ambitions. I feel the temptation to strive for a full plate of dollar signs even if that only leaves room for a side order of passion.

But I have yet to give up on idealism. My zeal to become a writer is much too overwhelming, and I can't help but be a slave to the written word.

Conventionally speaking, I don't know where it will take me.

My hope is that writing will freeze my fervor, my humor, my moments of enlightenment to help others find truth and enjoyment; or at the very least, shake a few methodical and mundane lives enough to tear open an entry into a world that is more than simply what is in front of them.

I will be more than just a wheel in a large lucrative system. I will provoke and inspire.

Jennifer Noborikawa is a 2007 Kalani High School graduate taking a break to spend time with her family in Kaimuki before heading to Scripps College in the fall.

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