No Dream is Crazy

 By Ogiri John Ogiri

Whatever your dreams are, however lofty or otherwise they may be, it is important to understand that they are achievable. No dream is crazy. Some have big dreams due to their exposure to great mentors like whom they want to become. These mentors expose them to stories and evidences of successful people whose lives and achievements in turn inspire them to achieve their dreams.

On the other hand, there are people whose dreams during childhood years is to become what many people won't want to become in life. For instance, our former President Obasanjo once told an audience about his dream during childhood years. He said that, while growing in his village, he had one dream and that was to become a motor vehicle mechanic. I listened to him on TV that day. It sounded crazy but it was still a dream even though fate would later avail him the privilege of becoming the number one citizen of Nigeria- firstly as a soldier and secondly as a democratically-elected president of the most populous black nation on earth-Nigeria. 

Again, during my National Youth Service programme in Gombe State some years ago, I taught in a private academy, Good Shepherd Academy, Gombe combining it with teaching at the Government Junior Secondary, Army Barracks, Bolari-East, Gombe State. During one of my classes at the Good Shepherd Academy, I decided to dedicate the first few minutes of my English Language class to asking each of the students (JSS2 precisely) what he or she would like to become in life. Each of them gladly mentioned what their preferred career choices were. However, I was struck by a response from one of the students, let's call him, Mohammed. When it got to his turn to tell the class what he would like to be, he gladly stood and proudly tell the class that he would like to become a "Police Driver" when he grew up. No one could resist the strong urge to laugh. But then, I was curious to know why the boy chose that, so I asked him why he would choose to be a police driver. That was when he gladly told me he just wanted to be blaring the siren on the vehicle he would be driving to the hearing of everyone. Mohammed made this probably because he lived in an environment dominated by the sounds of sirens blaring from the military vehicles or another factor might influenced his choice. It sounded crazy but it was still a dream. However, with the right mentorship, people like Mohammed could have their dreams redirected to other careers.

Let me emphasize that the examples of being a motor vehicle mechanic or a police driver used in this write up is never intended to derogate those who have found and are still finding fulfilments in those professions and careers respectively.

What are your dreams? What do you want to be in life? Whatever they may be, know that no dream is crazy. Go out there and dream crazy dreams. If you can dream it, think about it, you can achieve it. Only those things you haven't thought about are the ones that can't be achieved. Anything is possible if you can think about it.