How wonderful! Do it!
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One thing that I have always admired about the American spirit
was the encouragement to dream and to try out things. There was no fear of
failing. Failing is a part of learning and growing. You want to participate in
a marathon or start your own business? The common answer in America will be “Good
for you! That’s so cool!” Whereas in Europe the reaction to a dream often was “Why?
Why would you burden yourself with that? That will never work anyway.” A dream
was crushed at the very mention of it.
One thing that I have always admired about the American spirit
was the encouragement to dream and to try out things. There was no fear of
failing. Failing is a part of learning and growing. You want to participate in
a marathon or start your own business? The common answer in America will be “Good
for you! That’s so cool!” Whereas in Europe the reaction to a dream often was “Why?
Why would you burden yourself with that? That will never work anyway.” A dream
was crushed at the very mention of it.
So why this difference in how dreams are perceived? I can’t
say for certain. I can only guess. In Europe,
people are
very concerned with the fear of failure. Once you fail, no one is likely to
believe in you anymore. No one wants to give you a job if you failed with your
own business. So it’s better not to try anything rather than not making it
because ‘what will people think!’ Dreaming is for people who are lazy and loners.
America, on the other hand, is a fairly young country and was
built by dreamers and daredevils. The whole premise of the American spirit is
to build something from scratch that is yours to keep. There is a reason why
they call it the ‘American Dream’. I have never heard of a European dream. Why
is there no European dream?
We could learn from our American friends and try to
encourage each other more when someone talks about their plans and dreams for
the future. If there were no dreamers, I would not be typing on a MacBook right
now or fly on a plane to a foreign land. The world needs dreams. Let’s reassure
them in their spirit!
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