--Dream On--
I had this conversation this morning with a guest about how our generation is constantly looking to do something special. About how we can be so obsessed with this will to do something to change the world. We want to do something about peace, about poverty, about the environment. We want to make this world a better place. We want to do something that we will really love, something that we will be passionate about.
We want to start our own NGO or cooperative, we want to do business a different way. We have a new idea every day. One day we want to travel the world on a bike and go build schools in the poorest countries, the next day we want to organize a big conference on peace or maybe buy a land and create a community where we will grow our own food and educate children on themes such as environment, peace and education. Ideas are not lacking, this is for sure. But where should we start? Which idea is the right one? This is where it gets complicated.
I went thru this stage of my life about 2 years ago. I think that’s what happened to a lot of us when we get our degree. It is the crucial moment when you need to decide what to do with your life. For me, I wanted to work for an NGO or start my own peace project. I also thought of a multicultural coffee where people could exchange about different topics. Basically, the idea was to have people get together and talk about today’s societie's issues and see what we can do about it. None of these projects came true. I applied for a lot of jobs with NGO but was always told that I didn’t have enough experience. How frustrating is it to finish a master degree and hear this over and over again. Yes, for sure I don’t have any experience; I was busy getting a degree.
Today I own my hostel here in Costa Rica and this is only recently that I realized that in the end I achieved my goal. Maybe not in the way that I was seeing it but in a more subtle way I’d say. In a hostel you meet a lot of people from around the world, a lot of people with different ideas, different cultures, different points of view, different dreams and different projects. I see a lot of young people just like me that have big dreams and that are working towards them. A hostel is a meeting point for dreamers and doers. It is a place where you get to share everything. It is a place where you can discuss about what is happening in the world with people from all over the globe. It is a place of dreams and hopes. I am thinking of Kara, Basilio, Gerard, the two French guys from the Association Impulso America Latina, Christine from Perspectives Voyageuses and so many others. There are so many of us and this is by meeting and sharing our ideas, this is by getting to know new cultures and new ideas of thinking that the world will eventually get better. The more we are travelling, the more we get to know and understand each other. And this is, I think, the major problem of our societies today. We misunderstand each other’s culture and this leads to violence.
So let’s keep on travelling. Let’s keep on getting to know each other better. Let’s keep on making friends from all over the world. Let’s keep on making this world a better place. Keep dreaming until your dream come true, keep planning untill it’s happening!
