Written by Jeffry Carillo

Final Destination, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, Train to Busan, The Fault in Our Stars. Do they ring any bells? These popular movies not only thrive in the cinemas during pre-pandemic times; they also share one thing in common — death. Whether you die heroically by fighting in the name of your country, get eaten by a great white shark, or be a zombie, death has always been and will always be inevitable. Which of these deaths would you consider the worst? Is it when you get the chance to say goodbye to a loved one until the last of your breath or when you realize that you don’t get to see them one last time because you refused to believe the warning given to you? For me, none of the above. Because the worst death one could encounter is living — living the life of a dead dream. 

In the Philippines alone, the death of a childhood dream is widespread simply because living in a Filipino household is — for lack of better words — a challenge, we need to work so hard to prove you can be whoever you want to be. Authoritarian parents seek domination over their children, and they sometimes forget that the life they wanted for us is not the life we always dreamed of having. 

For instance, Arts is still a debatable career to be pursued since our parents love to argue by saying, “Walang pera jan.” This threatens the preservation of our country’s culture, tradition, and values. Now, this begs the question: does practicality really run the world? Do we only consider money as the sole basis of success? Indeed, money plays a big part in survival and self-preservation, but it is necessary to realize that money is only a fraction of a whole. 

The death of a childhood dream is often caused by the lack of resources. And this transpires to our current pandemic setup. Some students who are eager and willing to stay in school have chosen to do otherwise since they have no laptops and cellphones to use for the online classes. These inadequate resources hinder them from becoming a doctor, teacher, chef, etc. This is what people born with a silver spoon in their mouths would never understand. They will always equate one’s inability to reach their dreams due to inadequate resources with laziness. But they are wrong. It is never laziness that prevents people from pursuing great careers, no, it is the circumstance they were born into that shapes and influences the course of their lives. 

It is wonderful to know that some of us want to be an agent of change whether it be in the platforms of the media, health care, the justice system, economy. And I believe these walls of hopes and dreams will always be tested, subject to trials, and target for murder by the people around us — from strangers to friends, even our families, and relatives. But to keep the fire of passion continuously burning, we must believe in ourselves. If you’ve got nothing left to burn, you gotta set yourself on fire.

Let us be the first responders to rescue the dying dreams of ours and others because sometimes, the worst death is not a one-search away on Google or listed on WatchMojo’s top 10. Oftentimes, it is the life we are already living, and worst of all, we also unknowingly murder the dreams of others or even our own.