Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed and nothing ever changes without a dream.
(Debby Boone)
You don’t believe in dreams. You can’t afford to dream. You’re too busy earning a living. You believe dreams are only good for those who can afford to take a break. Too old to dream? At 10 years old, you’ve seen it all. Nothing fazes you. Dreams belong to ‘lala land’ and they’ll never come true for you, and you’re not going to trust in dreams.
It’s precisely for all the above reasons that you have to keep on dreaming. Dream -because you’re busy so that you don’t lose focus on the important things in your life. Dream – because no one is too old to dream. For the young, it means you have not seen it yet. Dreams do come true but it may just take some time.
Like the bean sprout, it takes three full days to grow from a seed to a sprout. That’s a lifetime for the bean sprout. Our lifetime is longer, as we may take maybe 30 years or so to mature. And the maturing process always has its valleys or hills.
It is our response to it that will make a difference as to how we handle life experiences. You may decide that you’re going to enjoy whatever comes your way, or you can go through life complaining about how unfair life is.
It is your choice. Choose which attitude you want to adopt. You can become a miserable grumbler or a life-long learner. You never know, something really good and unexpected may just be right around the corner, if you’re patient.
Asian-style bean sprouts germinate from mung beans. I tried growing them several months ago. My first harvest didn’t look anything like those store-bought ones. They were stringy and long. It didn’t look palatable. So I tried growing them again after researching on youtube. Finally after a few attempts, I managed to grow them as good if not better-looking than those from the market.
What made the difference was that a heavy object must be placed over the sprouting beans. This weight causes the bean sprouts to bulk up as they push out of the seed casing. Time to harvest was the same three days. However, the added pressure during the growth process made all the difference. Isn’t this true of our life as well?
Usually, if we overcome a challenge, we become stronger for the experience. Some things in life just require that added pressure for it to become something beautiful. Like the caterpillar that hibernates and at the right time, it pushes out of the cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly. When you cut open the cocoon to help the butterfly to release itself, its wings become deformed and the butterfly will die without flying.
So you cannot cut short the maturing process, not even for the butterfly. Patience under pressure is so vital to growth. So you wait and don’t give up, that’s the way to see a dream become reality. It’s too early for some to give up and never too late for others. Just hang on and try planting one seed at a time. It may become an island.
Artist & Text: Anna G.
Minn Byeong-do of Nami Island
I visited this island in South Korea many years ago. It has a very calming atmosphere, notwithstanding the many tourists. It is a place where you can just leisurely stroll and breathe in fresh air redolent of pine.
There was a man named Mr Minn Byeong-do (1916 -2006). He was famous in his home country, South Korea for transforming a desolate piece of land into a now famous island, Nami Island. It is most renown as the location for the 2002 KBS drama, Winter Sonata. He was the governor of the Bank of Korea before he resigned to spent the rest of his life in nature. He bought this island in 1965, which had a few scattered chestnut trees, poplar trees and mulberry trees on the fringes of a small peanut farm. He had a vision to transform it into an island paradise filled with beautiful trees and flowering plants. I was told by the tour guide that he did this one tree at a time.
A seed of a dream became reality!
