Sea of Traffic | Teen Ink

Sea of Traffic

February 10, 2009
By Emily Aijkens BRONZE, Flower Mound, Texas
Emily Aijkens BRONZE, Flower Mound, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

We all know Martin Luther King's famous words, 'I have a dream.' The truth is, everyone does. It just seems that people loose their dreams in the chaos and expectation in their lives.

When I hear the words 'Doing something you love,' I ironically picture people doing the exact opposite. In my head, I'll see a sea of adults sitting on a highway, in traffic, slowly creeping towards their concrete office buildings, then arriving there only to attend to their bleak, square cubicles. There, they spend the entire day behind an ancient computer sending status reports and project margins until the clock strikes five and they all head home in the same traffic merely heading in the opposite direction. These people live on water cooler gossip and never seem to get promoted. You know why? They're not doing what they love. The thought of turning into one of those people scares me more then I can say.

Michael Phelps. What can I say? As a swimmer myself, I love him. I spent late nights during the Olympics in front of the television waiting to see him touch the wall of the pool before anyone else in the race. I own the magazines he is plastered on and he's even on my English binder. But as a kid, he never dreamt of becoming the star in the eye of a fourteen-year-old girl. He never even thought he would ever make it to the Olympics. As a teen, after being asked by his coach to have practice everyday, he shot back one of those 'You're ruining my life!' groans my mom knows so well. He did agree though ' Why? ' because his love for swimming was unconditional. He would do almost anything for the sport. Even though he didn't always know it, he loved to swim. He loved it enough to spend hours in the pool everyday. It's what forced him out of bed at four to go to those early morning practices. It helped him make those impossible intervals, and is what, ultimately, brought him to the Olympics. Because, doing what you love is one of the few things you'll ever be good at. It's the only thing you'll love enough to put all your effort into. And no, it's not about winning that medal, or making it to the top. It's about that unconditional love you have for what you do.

No, my dreams are not to make it to the Olympics and don't seem as important as Martin Luther King's, I'm not even sure what my dreams are or what I want to do with my life, but I do know that I will do what I love and that I refuse to be one of the thousands adults waiting in a sea of traffic on their way to work.


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