Even if you're capable of having dreams in the first few years of your life, your priorities are going to be quite different.
No one-year-old dreams of swimming with dolphins, or meeting Lemmy, or parachuting into the grand canyon. They're concerned with the acquisition of milk, soft springy toys, and the occasional nappy change.
And once you reach adulthood, these things become either undesirable (milk) or easily attainable (nappy change).
There are no life-long dreams.
Even if we discount our childhood years, we can go in the other direction and say that we can't talk about life-long dreams until we're dead.
I might believe I have a life-long dream to french-kiss Bill Cosby. But the desire to do this might wane in later life (especially when Cosby dies). It's not life-long then, is it?
You may accuse me of semantics. But without people like me, where would we be? I think a change of terminology is required.
We no longer have life-long dreams. We have priority contingent aspirations.
So when, after years of yearning, you visit the pyramids, or slaughter a horse in McDonalds, you can say proudly, to everyone who listens, "I'm so happy! This has been a priority contingent aspiration of mine!"
I don't think I'd mind as much if I had any long term goals. I've never known exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I've had vague ideas (writer, vigilante, nut salesman), but never a single objective. I think it's hindered my progress in life, as I have no clear path.
But I think I have just discovered my calling. I'm going to keep my eyes on the prize, never stray, never falter. And at the end, even if I've accomplished nothing else, my gravestone will read:
Here lies Paul Fung
He french-kissed the corpse of Bill Cosby
***
(In the future, when I google my name, this entry might seem like a mistake)
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