Sooner Rather Than Later

It occurs to the present author that a significant part of one's childhood is spent listening to those whose dreams haven't come true tell you not to give up on your dreams. In many case, these very instructors and teachers and parents and adults have given up on their dreams, for they have realized the impossibility of accomplishing them. Given that the realization of futility is an all together depressing and melancholic affair, it stands to reason that the sooner we can attribute this event to children, the sooner we can get the hardship it creates out of the day. With that in mind, it is perhaps best that we never tell kids to pursue their dreams, or to dream big, for not only are we lying to them, we are creating a scenario in which the teens and 20s - ages where depression is most common - are that much more difficult and hopeless to navigate. This author suggests that, from an early age, and as early as one can conceptualize the idea, we should inform children that their dreams will not come true, but instead they will live a life of repetitive mediocrity as part of a larger system of values and production that reduces their importance to the world to a simple dollar value. Once the children have overcome the malaise that this brings about, they are much more freer to accept mediocrity and not be weighed down by the impossibility of expecting greatness.