We've got to stop being jealous some time

I was with kids the other day. Not directly interacting with them; just listening. They were young kids, about seven to nine years old. One of them stood out to all of us. Her aspiration was to be a lawyer. I had a friend who wanted to be a lawyer when she was in primary school. She didn't read law in university. I found myself with that grim train of thoughts that the little girl wouldn't go on to be a lawyer. Then I heard the other panelists saying that she could be a lawyer. She was certainly vocal enough for it. 

At that point, I wasn't that convinced. Mostly, it could have been due to how she came across to me as immature.

Then it hit me. Like the proverbial train, or a beetle haphazardly flying around the room. She's a kid. She will be more mature in time. I was a kid once. I'm more mature now. 

Right now, she's showing potential. Who am I to deny her her dreams? The other panelists had no problems encouraging her (I joined in the choruses of yeahs).

Why am I doing that? 

The beetle struck again, except this time, it was right smack in the face. I'm behaving like a kid. 

I think that I'm so jaded, that life is full of disappointments, that I'm not looking how important dreams are anymore. I'm just resigned that I'm going to be a nine to five/eight to six/overtime + overtime office worker that I've lost track of my own aspirations. What are my aspirations? Do I have them? 

As we get older, I think those aspirations get buried under the rubble of responsibilities. It gets set upon the scale of need versus want. And we know that needs get an unfair advantage.

On the other hand, why does the presence or absence of any aspirations of my own affect whether a little girl can have her own aspirations, or whether she can speak her seven year old mind? 

It doesn't. It shouldn't. 

I've got to stop being jealous some time. 

You know how older folks disagree with the younger generation's music? It's happened for ages and ages, generations before us. 

The thing we have to accept is: we are evolving. Simple as that. We might not be improving, but we are evolving.

Darwinism. 

Even if you don't believe in the Theory of Evolution, we are evolving as human beings, changing. We're being more empowered to chase our dreams. The little girl can certainly be a lawyer if she tries hard enough.

Why are the other panelists so encouraging then? Because they are parents? Because they have landed their dream jobs? 

No. 

They have arrived at that point in life. That point where you stop being jealous and actually start being encouraging. That point where you understand that life is too short to be hung up over things lost. That point where you find that that things you wanted to do but never got around to doing it, you can't do them anymore. 

Kids. They have a whole lifetime ahead of them. But life goes by in a flash. If they have dreams, they should chase them. We should empower them to do so, early. They may/will change their minds, but at the very least, they had the chance to do it.