By Sophia Angeline G. Delantero, UC student
Adjust ko na lang ulit pangarap ko,” says an individual I know all the way from Valenzuela who has suffered from the cast of practicality over passion. This is only one individual representing all moving mortals who have ended up pursuing a career that would make them tons of money rather than make them happy.
As someone who has pursued her passion, I have always done something that will make my heart and mind satisfied. This is to create. But now that I am about to step into the real cruelties of this sphere, I do get now where these people are coming from. Our economy cannot support people who are passionate about their craft, thus the adjustment of their own dreams.
I know students from the College of Nursing whom I was with during the Regional Press Conference of Region 2, and if I remember it correctly, they wanted to become journalists, but instead of holding a pen in this lifetime, they chose to handle a needle that would guarantee their future. I also know students from the College of Engineering whom I encountered in multiple essay-writing contests. I am very much sure they wanted to walk in the path of writing, but instead of holding a pen, they are now navigating how to calculate a series of equations just so they can build a house. From the different colleges are students whom I know so passionate about creating but ended up pursuing their goals toward an unfamiliar road of becoming.
In this country, it is impossible to live by the quote, “Libre lang mangarap,” as to live your dream means sacrificing the well-being of your parents or working it all by yourself just to pay the amount of a not-so-quality education. As living your dream means working double jobs, waiting in lines, paying higher fares, renting a space that costs a fortune even if it is so small, and sacrificing a part of your life. It means counting what is left in your wallet before counting what is left of your dream.
This individual from Valenzuela is someone I know who knew that living in the Philippines is not for the weak, nor for ignorant people who do not care about the living hell of politics in this place. She knew that this is a place where you have to mentally prepare yourself to catch all the hazards of the incompetence of our leaders and their blind followers.
Hence, contrary to what we believe in, dreaming is not for free. Dreaming is for the people who have enough money in their pockets. Dreaming is for the people who can afford gas to fuel their new Montero car. Dreaming is for the people who only care about studying because their needs are all laid down for them.
In this living hell, this country, all by itself, can destroy people who are full of dreams and aspirations. In our very own country, we adjust just so we can make it out there.
Maybe that is the cruelest part: we are taught to call it practicality when, sometimes, all we have really done is learn how to bury the things we once wanted.
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