Young Singaporeans need to have dreams

A very thought provoking piece I picked from the ST Forum. Maybe especially so for me since I'd been through this phrase earlier in life.

Although my parent wasn't as critical, other people around me were. I had tonnes of cold water poured onto me.

"Zhui Ming Xing Meng". Now you know where I got my blog's name from.

Young Singaporeans need to have dreams

I NEVER used to have a goal in life. When people asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, I would think about it and choose the simplest answer I could think of: a teacher.

Now that I am in my teens, I dream of using my voice to make a heart ache. I ended up taking singing lessons, dancing lessons, performing lessons, etc. I never used to dare to do things. I was not sure of myself.

But because of music, I have found my haven. Now I sing without fear, without worry that people would laugh at my lousy techniques.

Then came the day my singing teacher asked us to join Singapore Idol. When I told my parents about it, my dad looked at me closely and told me that I would never go far. He listed the criteria for being a star: a voice like Whitney Houston's, a hot body and a stunning face.

He told me not to chase after fluff-filled dreams, and predicted that I would never be able to make it.

And this is not the first time such advice had been dished out. My close friends learning singing with me encountered worse comments. We had parents asking us not to zhui ming xing meng (chase after the dream of being a star), saying that the world is filled with so many other better singers than us.

Some parents even went as far as forbidding the children to continue their singing lessons, just like how bans are imposed on every single thing that has the potential to harm. Parents are naturally protective of their children, and do not want them to be exposed to the raw side of life.

Obviously everything is done out of love and concern for us. My mother once told me that no matter what age I was, I would always be her baby. I agreed that I would always be her baby, but her baby did not belong solely to her.

Everyone is their own person, in pursuit of their own goals. Living life without a dream is to live an unhappy life. I came alive because I found acceptance among people who felt the same way I did about music, instead of a home where music was not even allowed to be played.

For a country where citizens complain so much about the lack of artistic development, it is ironic that when we finally start to take a baby step towards discovering our potential, we are told to stop dabbling in this 'dangerous wild-goose chase'.

If we live a life without taking risks, how can we ever hope to step out of our self-imposed boundaries? No matter what dreams you or the people close to you are chasing, I am sure everyone feels the same. You would not want someone to tie your wings before you could flap them.

Parents should give their children a chance to fly, because only dreams can give people courage to go beyond themselves.

Alva Huang Yanting (Miss)