Wisdom Strawberry #3: You can bury a Dream, but you cannot kill it
Santiago could see in his father’s gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world – a desire that was still alive, despite his father’s having had to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life.
In the story of The Alchemist, Santiago, a young man just out of school, decides to become a shepherd. In the passage above, he has just asked his father for his blessing.
Santiago decided to become a shepherd, because it was his dream to travel and see the world, and the only way a person of his stature and class could get to travel, was by being shepherd.
At first his father tried to talk him out of his decision, but instead of being discouraged, Santiago found a confirmation that his decision was the right one – in his father’s eyes.
A person’s eyes are the windows to his soul. Santiago’s saw the truth of his father’s heart by looking into his eyes. His father’s heart was speaking of a dream, buried, given up on, but alive.
Dreams don’t die. They only get buried.
Listen to your heart. If there’s a dream buried under a whole lot of meaninglessness, it’s time to start digging.
This strawberry is part of the Wisdom Strawberries series. If you want to receive a notice every time a new strawberry ripens, you can subscribe to Liberta.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Hi Francios
Stumbled onto your site from googling historical interest rates.
A wisdom treasure trove was the last thing I was expecting. Love the strawberry ripening metaphor.
Thanks for a really uplifting site.
I will be back for more
Ralph