| DREAMS and Ambitions Life would be pretty flat if we did not have dreams. Unfortunately our dreams can sometimes be distractions or are only possible to achieve through hard work and some luck. Either way, dreams and ambitions are touched by realities, some which we may not like because they stifle our visions and others which, while demanding and even scary, can make possible the realization of our aspirations. It often happens that new dreams are realized as unfolding reality opens up possibilities we never considered before. A truth about pursuing our dreams is that in some ways our lives are changed in the quest. When someone finally achieves a dream, that person may find that things are quite different from the way they were when the pursuit was begun. There are often loses. These can be worth more than what has been achieved in pursing one’s ambition. Or they can be sacrifices that, while difficult, were an acceptable price to pay. When we were children, our dreams tended to be more idealistic and simplistic: Be a fireman, a doctor, an artist, an Olympic athlete, a pilot; have a pony, live in a castle, travel to distant planets. As we grew up we may have attempted (and succeeded) to realize a dream. Usually the reality is very different from what we thought it would be. There is a lot of manure to be shoveled if you own a horse, and the demands of being an Olympic athlete are considerable. If we can merge our childhood dreams and enthusiasm with adult responsibility, realism, and discipline, taking the good with the bad, we can have something well worth achieving. The Films AMADEUS and MR HOLLAND’S OPUS are two films that need to be viewed back to back because together they reveal a great deal about the disappointment of failing to gain something that is very important. In Amadeus the disappointment is Salieri’s, a contemporary of Mozart. In Mr Holland’s Opus, it is Glenn Holland’s, a contemporary high school teacher. We follow the lives of  ©Touchstone Pictures. All rights reserved. two men, both musicians, who have great ambitions to become composers. Salieri succeeds and becomes very popular in his time. Holland does not and, to support his family, becomes a high school music teacher, putting his music writing on a perpetual back burner. Ironically, Salieri, becomes embittered and enraged at God, not because he fails but because another composer is so much better than him (a fact that only he can see). Holland gradually finds peace and acceptance, realizing that what he is doing is also important. While watching
these two movies, think of your own failed dreams. Many
of us never become the great composers or
"successes" we have dreamed of becoming. But
what opportunities have you been given to touch other
people’s lives, do something, however less grand,
that has value and meaning? Are you so blind by the
vanity of being the one who puts the great musical notes
on paper that you cannot see that maybe the way God
answered your prayer was to be the guide, teacher or
protector of the one who does?
|
  |
|
Therapeutic
Cinema Home Page Personal Resources |
||
