A generation of stolen dreams.

Hello there, people.

It's Thursday afternoon, and I should be studying. Yet, this thing I want to tell you about hasn't stop buggering me since the morning.

My friends and I were out, eating ice cream, after sitting our exam. We were just chit-chatting, talking about people we know, about the latest flirt (not mine!), about ice cream. I have no idea how the economic recession and the political situation came up.

And then, all hell broke loose.

We are living under very difficult conditions. The mother of one of my friends is unemployed. Another one, had 500 euros cut off her salary. Another one's father hasn't been paid for months. Everyday, we hear about all the things the working people will have to go through. Worse than that - we don't know what conditions we are going to work and live under. If this country will be a place where we will be able to live freely and have children, if we will work and be paid. Every right the working people have seems to be taken away. And then - we feel that something else is taken away from us - from the kids, the young people. Our dreams.

When J. talks to her mother about what she wants to do in the future - be an actress, or a teacher, and travel, and have kids - her mother tells her that it's very possible she won't be able to do any of these. That she will have to work without knowing if she will be paid for her work, since the employer will be able to give her the money he wants to give her, not the ones her work is worth of. Her mother hasn't got a real job the past few months, and she has probably stopped believing that she will get one soon.

A. says that her parents tell her to leave, go to Europe or America and live there. Her parents didn't even considered letting her live by herself while in University until two months ago. She doesn't know what to do. The way she views life is the most realistic out of us four, but now reality scares her - she can't think straight about her future.

V. may not talk a lot - but I'm pretty sure she's thinking the same.

And we all realise. Of all the people in our school - we are some of the very few that seem to be concerned about all these. Of course - we don't know what other people have in their heads. But I know for sure that no-one talks about it.

Are we so numb? Are we so engrossed in what's on the TV or on our computer screen? Are we afraid to talk? Yes, these are not things we talk easily about. But not one mention? Not one? Are we scared of talking, unsure of what to say? Are we unable to put our thoughts into words?

I...I don't know.

J. said today what we our dreams are taken away. Stolen. They prohibit us from dreaming, saying we will never manage to do all we want. Saying we will have to take care of ourselves - find the way to survive. If surviving means I have to stop dreaming, I'd rather die, thank you very much.

Actually... I'm not sure. I don't know what to believe. I don't want to believe that us young people don't dream anymore. I don't want to believe that we are numb. I think that all we need is a reason to wake up, and dream with eyes open. But, will we do it? The reason is given, but we are afraid. So many things happen, we see our parents so worried, we hear about all those economic stuff we can't really understand. We can't fully realise what's in order, or how we can stop it.

I feel she is right about us being prohibited from dreaming - the television stops us from dreaming; our parents are worried and tell us not to dream because our wants won't come true; the teachers don't talk to us about anything but the lesson; between ourselves, we are trying to seem loose and carefree, or we are loose and carefree and not preoccupied about anything. Welcome to life people, after the 700 euros generation, the 0 euros and no dreams generation.

Damn. I'm sounding far too pessimistic. I'm trying to talk about what I worry about and can't seem to be coherent. Mostly, I'm trying to tell you what we were talking about today, mostly what my friends said.

I don't want my dreams taken away, and I don't want to be a part of a generation that has no dreams. And I'm not willing to give up on them, nor are my friends.

WE ARE THE ROBIN HOODS OF THE DREAMS.

Here, I said it. I'm discouraged by what I hear (or don't hear), worried about the future, angry about what's happening... Yet, earlier I wrote a list of 101 things that make me happy, and yesterday I was counting my possible future occupations.

I want to be an animator.

Or an illustrator.

I want to own an arty cafe.


...or a bookstore.


I want to travel.



To draw, to listen to music, to create whatever comes to my mind.

I want to make my house the way I want it.

(I couldn't find a nice picture for that ;___;)

I want to have fun, to be with friends, to see new places, read more books, taste new things.


As my mother says, difficult times are ahead, but this doesn't mean we will stop living. We'll try to make the best out of everything, we'll need the best out of ourselves, our ideology, our values. And what we need will always be other people. People need to be together, especially in difficult times. They need each other, and they also need their dreams.



PS.: Okay. Enough rambling and sappiness for now. I think I want to bake something.
PPS.: I don't own any of the images used. I know for sure that the artist behind the last one is the wonderful Rebecca Dautremer. The others belong to their respective creators.
PPPS.: What do YOU dream of? What do you want out of life?