方文弘 安徽大学

                             Soaring with Our Dreams 

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My topic is: soaring with our dreams.

When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window. But what if both of them were locked? When dreams conflict with reality, what’s your choice?
 
We dream a lot when night falls; After waking up in the morning, we taste it, chew it but seldom digest it. We simply forget it! When we were little kids, we used to ask: Mom, will I become a superman in the future? But when we grow up, our passion dwindles. Torn by the currents of life: hiking house prices, gloomy job markets, our dreams are gradually fading away.
 
Standing at the cross road, reflecting on my scheduled life and set future, I have no reason to retreat. I will succeed, eventually, by chasing the flow. Yet, in retrospect, I find something lost, something we would call the initiative to dream.
 
Christopher Garden, the tough guy in the movie “The pursuit of happiness” made a miracle by turning the magic cube in his hands. He said: If you have a dream, you gonna protect it. He went through the rainy days when his wife chose to leave. He underwent the embarrassing moment of being driven away by the motel manager; he swallowed the bitterness of sheltering in a toilet; he shouldered the unbearable pressure and finally embraced success. 
 
Lizzy, the little girl in the movie “Homeless to Harvard”, whose parents were addicted to drugs and alcohol, grew up by cramming herself with dumpsters, sleeping in subway, utterly hopeless. But she never wasted a single opportunity to chase her dream till she finally made it to Harvard with a full scholarship. Her unique way of addressing pressure and frustration makes her dream come true.
 
Michelangelo was once asked how he created the masterpiece David. He answered plainly: I went to the quarry, saw this huge piece of marble, and in it I saw David. All I need do is to chip away the excess stone that shouldn't be there. And when I got rid of it, there was David.
 
All these examples echoed Rosenthal Effect in psychology, the importance of positive psychological implications. Its essence lies in the optimistic way of tackling the ever cropping up pressure in our life.
 
So, what we need do right now is to chip away our fear of failure. Get rid of limitations and barriers. Put aside worries about being left behind. Pick up courage and exert every bit of potential to test the boundary of our capacity.
 
My dear friends, the longest distance in the world is not between dream and reality, but when you see the reality, you yield in your dream. Life is just like a spinning magic cube. By shifting the sides, we choose who we are; by holding it tight and turning it right, we get closer to our dreams; by integrating our imagination and perspiration, we will soar with our dreams.

Thank you!