Microwave Dream: An Imperfect Love Story

The interesting thing about a “successful” married couple is that, majority of the time, we do not picture the full story. We easily imagine the wedding bells sounding, extravagant gowns and tuxedos, flowers fielding the aisles, rice showering outside steps, and two people riding off into a new world as one.

However, we fail to see the problems: the arguments, the letdowns, the temptations, the trials, and the setbacks. Most importantly, we overlook the sacrifice and hard work that must be put forward. After the intoxicated aunt or uncle devours the last piece of cake at the reception and the dream ceremony is over, the two ingredients, united under oath, now enter the oven in order to cook until they make that perfect love story.

The irony of the love story is that its glamorization has opened the door allowing it to walk into our dreams—a migration that has been happening throughout our canon of literature(Epic of Gilgamesh, works of Shakespeare, stories of the Bible). So, the question becomes, “how do we view the love story?”, and more importantly, “how do we view our dreams?”

I believe our dreams now reflect our time; a good and bad axiom. On one hand, we dream as if we can do anything to which we put our minds. We have seen a country go through depression, recession, world wars, and movements for the rights of people of all shapes and sizes. We have seen the creative ingenious of people enable us to fly the air like birds, swim the sea like fish, and interact with the world through the press of a button or the scroll of a screen. We dream big!

However, we dream as if patience does not exist anymore. When we need to get in touch with someone, we just make a phone call, send out a text message, or type up an email. We expect to do something once or twice and master it. We want everything, and we want it now because that is the world we live in.

We cannot be a generation of people trying to microwave dreams. That couple sitting in the oven will not be ready in 3 to 5 minutes. They will bake much longer, but as they argue and move forward, their different flavors will settle. As they suffer from letdowns and bounce back from them, their texture becomes stronger. Moreover, as they persevere through the trials, outside temptations, and setbacks, they begin to rise as one.

So, since we already dream of love stories, why not dream like love stories? We should put in the time and work ethic to reach our intended level of success. We should have patience and persevere. And, we need to realize how hard it is to reach the top, and not be fooled by the instant gratification we see around us. There should be no more trying to create dreams overnight. Let us step away from the dreams that require you to add water and heat for 2 to 3 minutes, and embrace the slow and steady roast of greatness.

Whether it be scholarship, sports, entertainment, law, medicine, theology, or blue-collar work, success has not come easy. Many have failed, and many of those failures enabled success. The people we consider the greatest are the ones who have the most failures. Failure is that part of the slow roast we try to bypass in the microwave, but it shapes a successful dish. Furthermore, dealing with failure is the only way to ride into a new world, the way we envision that perfect couple, and make our dreams come true. Microwave dreams are the problem. Be a part of the SOLUTION.

OxyJon