I was visiting a friend's place. Making myself comfortable as much as I could in the cozy living room, I saw some papers lying about on the table and underneath there it was, the annual magazine of the Delhi Mizo Zirlai Pawl (DMZP) in my hands, fingers already busy flipping the pages for some interesting readings.

I came upon this particular piece of writing entitled "They dare not dream". It was the author's recollection of an encounter with a young ex-school teacher from Mizoram, where the teacher reluctantly upon request gave a speech and told her audience about her experiences as a teacher in her previous school. She spoke about the "ailing" students who do not have the will of "daring to dream". Students, who dare not dream because of the reality of life and the poor conditions they have to struggle with and live through.

The struggles of these students plugged me into deep thinking with innumerable question of the hows, whens, wheres, whats and the "if only!". My thoughts centered on our poor state of affairs and what affects it or may have in our young minds. We read the writings, hear the talks and rumors of many in regards to our government, churches, politics, society, group, et al. And we have nothing much to be proud of but make up an awkward face afflicted with an inferiority mind and bowed head.

If this is to continue on, shall we dare to dream at all? Will our next generation dare to dream?

Mark me as being too much of a pessimist. My answers to the above questionnaires are both negative. With the negative impression that we tend to follow and are busy propagating, how can we really dare to and let others dream! Of course, sometimes our failures needs to be pointed out to remind us of them and to set things right the next time round. But let's ask this question ourselves – Are we not overdoing it the wrong way?

The more I think of it, the more I see that we tend to remain static in the "if only" stage and never really try to step forward for a change. We whine with the "if only", crying and not wanting to let the tears dry! Wholly enveloped by the "damned care" attitude, we never try to take the initiative to make things right.

This mindset seemed to be much rooted in us. Instead of trying to learn from our past mistakes, we want to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Our attitudes need to change! Changes have to be made in our current way of approach towards rebuilding our past glories, whatever that is. One can argue, "But you just cannot rub out the smears of the past!". Rightly said so. What we need to do here is cleanse the smears with a much more powerful "detergent" and compensating it by way of learning from our mistakes even if we are to apply the same strategy on our problems. It is not about pulling a veil over our unwanted pasts.

Our attitude might be one of: The situation with us is so bad now, it cannot be revived anymore. I have nothing to do with such rubbish. The leaders are irresponsible and inefficient. They do not know how to bring about positive changes to our lives" . This, I would say is very much a one of the worse example to be set for others and most importantly on our younger generations. Are we justified by taking that approach? Can our young minds dare to dream from such attitudes and example? Isn't this just a lame excuse for our own irresponsibility and inefficiency? Do we think that we can bring about changes and development in our lives without changing a large portion of our "ideology"?

Imagine placing a rotten mango among the other good ones. Will not it further rot the other good mangoes? That is exactly what one does whenever "one washes one's hands off" from trying to build what one set out to do, leaving more leftovers halfway through that he could have accomplished by himself. Like cowards, with tail between legs and ears pointed back, we hightail to our never-to-see-the-daylight shell.

Maybe we were not ready yet for what we set out to do. That seems to somehow justify our early "shameful retirements". What do we give our youngsters to learn from that? Without realizing we leave behind the goods unprotected, to be innocently butchered mercilessly. I am wondering, is not making wider roads for the "damned" wrong? I don't think there is much difference being the plunderer with that of the other neglecting his own duties. Wake up!

If we, the present generation, do not start dreaming we will never see the light of the day when we will hold our head high, proud of what we are and what we did. If we do not sow the seed now in daring to dream, our next generation will never ever be in a position to start dreaming. They will have only their frightful nightmares, masking their faces and not wanting to open their eyes. Is that a future that you desire? I don't!

Let's start revamping our foundational structures and start setting up a strong base for the sake of our future. I no doubt believe we can do it! Let us dream and practically pursue those dreams vigorously, honestly and dedicatedly. Let's begin by not backing down the thinking of the many adversaries we may need to face. We can surely overcome this heavy burden we are carrying and which afflicts us to the core. If no immediate change is made this burden will lead us to a slow death. So let us change our thinking and let us begin to dream. To begin to dream is my dream. What about you? Hope and Dream are two wonderful words.

Let's dare to dream and pass it on!