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Publisher’s Note
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Literary – Dreams and Fantasies

By Roger Encarnacion

It is safe to say that most of us came to Canada in search of a dream. Dream to better off our lots, dream to discover new vistas in life, dream to see North America face to face, dream to be able to help our needy relatives back home, and more. The important thing is we know it is quite possible to attain that dream in this country.
Through hard work and with a little bit of luck, financial success is within reach of anyone who dares to dream to be somebody in this land of opportunity.

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Many of us dream of winning the big one in the lottery. And why not, getting our hands on all that cash multiplies our options in life a thousand fold.
No longer will we be confined to a workplace from 8 to 5, half-bored to death doing the same routine day in and day out.
With so much money at our disposal, the world beckons us with open arms. We can go on vacation anywhere, and in style, for as long as we want without worrying about the job that we left behind.
And what could be more gratifying than to have the power to obtain the many fine things in life without worrying about our credit card limit?
Many people say that money is evil, and they have valid reasons for saying so. But fire is also evil, and so is our imagination, if we do not know how to control them.
What would you rather be, a regular person with a couple of thousand dollars in the bank, or somebody with millions? I’d rather be a millionaire, every time.

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If some god-fairy would suddenly appear and offer to grant my single wish, I’d wish that I could sing like a professional singer.
Like many aspiring singers, I love to sing when I am alone or while I’m taking a shower. The idea is to find out if I can hit the high notes without straining myself too much.
I know it is hard to sing when no single gene containing musically-inclined DNA is present in our systems. We can not expect mono to sound like stereo if we do not have the necessary components to make it happen. Similarly, we can not expect to sing the right notes if we are not endowed with musically tuned vocal chords.
And so with our limited abilities, we are left to dream to be a great singer. We fantasize to be Matt Monro or Shirley Bassey whose signature songs can put the world under their spell.
I think that being able to arouse the emotions of people through a song, to captivate and overpower them with the magic of music is the greatest gift of all.
It is not so much of the adulation of the crowd that would be thrilling to me, but the knowledge that I have sung a song so beautifully and powerfully that I almost put the world to a standstill.

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After the years have consumed our youthful exuberance and rendered us submissive to the hard realities of the present, we begin to wonder what the real meaning of life is.
Slowly but surely, as time ushers us into our golden years, we begin to realize that life is how we make it; that it is only worth living if we live our lives more for others than we live them for ourselves. We stop and look back at the many great opportunities we squandered and missed, wondering how bone-headed we were for not having done the best we could in work, in play and in love, and for failing to be the captain of our own destiny.
There is a beautiful line in one old popular song of the 60’s that I like, which goes: “If we had a chance to do it all again, would we, could we…”

And that is my fantasy. I wish I were young again to be able to re-write my life’s story. I wish I had a chance to find out what the paths not taken in my crossroads had in store for me. I wish that I were crazier, more daring, more adventurous, more carefree, and much more in control of my own fate.

*****

Our daily routine makes us a prisoner of our self. It also renders life boring.
Imagine all the repetitive things we do every day. We sleep on the same side of the bed. Shower in the same bathroom. Eat the same kind of breakfast. Commute to work along the same route. Eat our lunch at the same place. Go home at five. Eat dinner in the same kitchen. Watch TV from the same chair. Then sleep on the same side of the bed again. And we repeat this routine for years, with few occasional breaks here and there.
How simplistic then is life with a routine that is as predictable as night and day. I wish that I had the power to get out from the dreariness of my own comfort zone to experience life the way it should be lived: without reservations and without fear. I wish that I could do things more freely, more passionately, more daringly.

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I fantasize that someday I will be able to stumble into some cure-all concoction, a magic bullet, if you will, that will wipe out all illnesses and diseases on earth.
This discovery will put to an end the fund-raising endeavors of countless people who wishfully believe that our scientists and researchers will be able to cure AIDS, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other deadly human afflictions during our lifetime.
It is not right to think that fund-raising activity for research cause is an exercise in futility and enriches only the campaign CEOs and their top-ranked officials. But the slow pace of progress in finding a cure to any of the terminal diseases known to man almost guarantees us that this noble crusade will be with us forever.

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Wouldn’t it be nice to stay forever young, as Rod Stewart, famous British pop singer, imagines in his song “Forever Young”?
I fantasize about having the power to freeze our aging process so that we can enjoy life while we are still young.
Isn’t it ironic that after working a lifetime for our retirement, diseases and age-related illnesses prevent us from enjoying what little time is left for us? And worse, if death should knock prematurely on our door, the government of Canada takes a big slice of the pie that we have prepared for our retirement during almost our lifetime.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could enjoy life now, not tomorrow, not when we are confronted with the harsh realities of old age, but right now while we are still young, while our blood is still warm and our spirits high?
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(This article was first published in the Kabitenyo Magazine under the author’s pseudonym. For comments, please email the author at [email protected].)
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Literary – Dreams and Fantasies

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