Musings on Dreams and Monologues

I wrote this monologue last year.
Some of its based on harsh truth, other parts are overexaggerated truisms that only slightly mirror the corners of my mind.

Nobody's Listening-

"I think I'm wasting my life.
I don't know what it is that I live for. I don't think I have a purpose.
It's not a bad thing- lots of people don't have purposes... In fact, some people just copy other people's purposes. You know those people- they were the kids in your career development counseling classes- the ones who didn't know what they wanted in life, so instead, they put something down that they didn't want. Then, they started lying to themselves, and pretty soon, the believed the lie. They became exactly who they didn't want to be.
I'm not one of those people- I used to want something.... Something big- I was destined for greatness, in any form.... I didn't know exactly what it was that I wanted. But... I knew that I didn't know... So... I had to have known something, right? I knew that I didn't want an average, safe life. I wanted to fall, I wanted to get hurt! I didn't want to wake up every day for the morning commute, just to come home that night to the wife and kids I'd wish that I didn't have. I didn't want that. I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to make a statement- to live my life for the greater good- the greater good of living the way you want to live.... Not the way everyone tells you to live. I wanted to be a light- a beacon- a symbol of resistance.
I wanted to be the one at organized rallies, the "man with the megaphone", the one who's shouting his heart out to a crowd who is so moved by the words coming out of his mouth, that they stand completely still.
.....but nobody was listening. I screamed, and I screamed, but nobody cared.
I woke up one morning, turned on my tv.... And World Word 3 was staring me in the face. It was laughing at me. "Ha ha! I win. Nobody cares about what you have to say. I've already said it all."
.... Nothing's been the same since that day. I just feel like nobody's listening anymore.
Nobody's listening to that crazy, homeless guy on the street corner in NYC, prophesying about the end of the world. Nobody's listening to the man behind the pulpit in front of the congregation every sunday at church- nobody's listening to him. Nobody's listening to that little voice on the inside- you know, the one that tells you when you're doing something wrong. Nobody's listening to our world leaders- they're so screwed up anyways, nobody wants to listen to them.
Nobody's listening to the people they care about. Nobody's listening to the guy next door who's crying his eyes out because his wife's leaving him because he has an alcohol problem.
Nobody's listening to their parents. Countries are at war with other countries, citizens are at war with other citizens, and families.... families are at war with themselves!
And what are we doing? We're covering our ears and screaming at the top of our lungs, "NA NA NA NA NA NAH I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!!!!!"
........
I'm not saying we all need megaphones. I'm saying we need to take the fingers out of our ears, and we need to listen. But, like I said, nobody's listening to me. Nobody cares about anybody else, remember? It's a dog-eat-dog world- survival of the fittest.
So. If you want to survive here, you better start running, fast- and don't ever look back. And remember, no matter how much you wanna change the world, you can't. Because nobody's gonna listen to you.
What did I end up doing with my life? Nothing. It's up to you if you wanna end up the same."


Crossroad-

I stand at a crossroad
Behind me is emptiness
A life without a dream
Ignorance, pain and loneliness

Another day, another dollar
Another dreamer in a mad, mad world
Do you ever wonder if you're living a lie?
All you have to do is open your mind

I know where I'm going
I may not get there in this lifetime
But sooner or later we all experience
That which we dream
Don't we?

It's not enough for me to know
That life happens every day
I need to know that dreams can happen
To feel the rush of excitement

Eyes wide
Soul open
The long expanse of road in front of me
Cluttered with new dreams and new realities

I breathe, knowing that they're all mine
Mine for the taking
I think of a life without that glorious ambiguity
And I step forward

Because a life full of failed
And forgotten dreams
Is better than a life with no dreams at all

Empty
Wasted
Forgotten
Just like the road behind me

Dreams-

Dreams

Who are we to understand them?
To try and comprehend that frail
Mystical, dangerous, ethereal magic

A dream planted deep in the soul
Flourishes and blossoms
Into the most beautiful reality

But a soul without a dream to nurture
Is as empty and sad as a life without love-
Which is the harshest reality

Without our dreams, how do we know who we are?
All his childhood, the astronaut dreamt of the stars
Ever since she was little, the painter dreamed of colors

The writer bleeds ink
The musician cries melodic tears
We are what we dream

Our stars are limited only by our minds
And our incapability to believe
To believe in our dreams

To trust in our dreams
and know that someday we will reach them
And when we do, we will be lying amongst the stars


Do You Have a Dream?-

Do you have a dream?
Nobody is too old, too poor, too lonely
Too sad, too unfortunate to dream

Sometimes dreams are the only things that motivate us
To stay alive

You are defined by what you do
Not by what you dream
But what you dream of drives you
To do the things you do

Nobody said dreams were perfect
Nobody said dreams always come true
Dreams are flawed, cracked and far-off

But it's better to have dreamed
One outlandish, impossible, farfetched
And unrealistic dream
Than to never have dreamed a single dream at all

If we didn't dream- how would we live?
If there was no motivation, no standards, no imagination-
Would you want to live in that world?

Mock not the starry-eyed dreamer
For in reality he is richer and more powerful than the highest king
and wealthiest noble

For he has an eye to see the light of the future
While the others dwell in the darkness of today