Dear Lupita, My Dreams Are Not Valid
She stood in front of the billions watching live and through their TV and computer screens; she held the golden statuette in her hand and a bright smile on her face; and she said:
A friend was preparing to give a career talk to some graduating high school students a few weeks ago. He is what you would call a "TV celebrity". He approached me a few days before the planned talk: "Ngare, I have absolutely no idea what to tell these kids. Can you help?"
He is not the first or the last celebrity to be asked to give a talk to an eager crowd and has to grapple for what to say. Like many other "big names" in the society, he was invited because he was popular and successful in his career.
We live in a society that elevates "who said it" over "what was said". I am a journalist, and I apply this reality in my stories every day. If you go to cover an event, the hard truth is that your editor cares more about "who" was at the press conference than "what" was said there.
If it is a press conference by religious leaders and the big names were not in attendance, the story might not be published, no matter how eloquent or reasonable those speakers were. On the other hand, anything the President says and does in public is newsworthy. It is a news value called prominence, and it is not necessarily bad.
We are wired to pay more attention to the people we consider big and important. They could be leaders in politics or in culture. I would not be surprised if the Oscars were not the first place where Lupita Nyong'o said those words, "your dreams are valid." But the Oscars is where those words became sacred. Her prominence validated her words of wisdom.
But what does that even mean, "your dreams are valid"? Does it mean everyone has a right to dream or does it mean every dream, whatever it is, has an equal chance to come true? Is that maxim cast in stone? As a young boy, I often used to dream of being bitten by a spider and becoming Spiderman. I truly hoped and wished and prayed that my dream would somehow come true. Was that dream also valid?
I think you already got my point halfway through this post. The thing with some ideas is that they never get old, or outdated -- like the idea I am trying to bring across here. It is the timelessness of truth that makes it worth sharing. So, why don't you put this idea into more practical use in your daily decisions? Do you consider some opinions more valid because of "who" airs them rather than how much those opinions reflect reality?
Do you only quote, like, favorite and RT those quotes by celebrities, not because they are particularly good, but because of your connection to the person who said or authored them? If you do, then you are a victim of the herd-mentality, a prisoner of the age, a blind follower of personality and a poor steward of truth.
I have nothing against big names, but I am definitely against small ideas. And I refuse to let the former blindly bind me to the latter. Have a sober day.
~ Ngare
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| Photo courtesy: thejobwindow.com |
"When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you are from your dreams are valid."
And we have not
stopped quoting her.
He is not the first or the last celebrity to be asked to give a talk to an eager crowd and has to grapple for what to say. Like many other "big names" in the society, he was invited because he was popular and successful in his career.
We live in a society that elevates "who said it" over "what was said". I am a journalist, and I apply this reality in my stories every day. If you go to cover an event, the hard truth is that your editor cares more about "who" was at the press conference than "what" was said there.
If it is a press conference by religious leaders and the big names were not in attendance, the story might not be published, no matter how eloquent or reasonable those speakers were. On the other hand, anything the President says and does in public is newsworthy. It is a news value called prominence, and it is not necessarily bad.
We are wired to pay more attention to the people we consider big and important. They could be leaders in politics or in culture. I would not be surprised if the Oscars were not the first place where Lupita Nyong'o said those words, "your dreams are valid." But the Oscars is where those words became sacred. Her prominence validated her words of wisdom.
But what does that even mean, "your dreams are valid"? Does it mean everyone has a right to dream or does it mean every dream, whatever it is, has an equal chance to come true? Is that maxim cast in stone? As a young boy, I often used to dream of being bitten by a spider and becoming Spiderman. I truly hoped and wished and prayed that my dream would somehow come true. Was that dream also valid?
Do you only quote, like, favorite and RT those quotes by celebrities, not because they are particularly good, but because of your connection to the person who said or authored them? If you do, then you are a victim of the herd-mentality, a prisoner of the age, a blind follower of personality and a poor steward of truth.
I have nothing against big names, but I am definitely against small ideas. And I refuse to let the former blindly bind me to the latter. Have a sober day.
~ Ngare
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