Old Saying

Never did I ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?", instead I asked, "Are you having a good time?"
-Anonymous.

Now I'm curious. Your godson already being a cosmopolitan, where will he attend school? Bolivia? NewYork? Dublin? Amsterdam?
Or is that a too intimate question.

No one asked my what I wanted to be, so that's why I don't know. There were books for friends with that question though, and I used to write "God". But I think I really wanted to be a professor (one with testtubes and a white coat) or a writer.

Poor teacher!
Arnon, will you have any time to visit the beautiful countryside of Ireland?

Mieke

Amsterdam.

Jeanette

No.

Rutger,
your quote sounds like belonging to an anonymous buddhist monk, who doesn't want children to get attached to a(ny) dream....
What dreams did you have as a little lad?

Unfortunately, due to the current trends in education, she is not very likely to listen to the end of any sentence starting with "i would like to die" and send him right off to counseling. Not to mention what would happen if she's a he...

correction: misread the 7th line, sorry

Jeanette

I really don't remember what I dreamed of when I was a child, but if I had to answer that question now as an adult, pretending to be 3, 5, or 7 years old, I would answer, "Nothing! The same as I am now. You go and play an astronaut, you fucking moron." Or words to that effect, of course.

“I would like to die to see your eyes once again.”
Sorry, but I do not understand this sentence, ironic or not. For me it sounds as complete nonsense.

@RH CdH
Strange you said those words.
As a toddler I wanted to be an electrician, as I was obsessed by wires – I wanted to connect everybody and everything, because I feared that everybody and everything would fly away from me.
Then, at the age of 10, I wanted to become a captain, master of his own ship and destiny, until I heard that even a captain had to obey orders.
Finally as an adolescent I indeed answered ‘Nothing’ (also referring to a quote from a shell shocked boy the great movie The War Game by Peter Watkins).

@RH CdG of course, sorry and “…a shell shocked boy in the great movie...”

Jan T

Re: "I would like to die to see your eyes again".

There is nothing to understand. To understand means to end the production of meaning. Do you understand the taste of food in your mouth? Try to read the sentence like it is a morsel of food, and then slowly chew on it.
Doesn't it taste good? I think it does.

Jan T

There is nothing wrong with a child's dreams. There is something wrong with the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" (which is not how Arnon put it, I know). The subtext of that question is, "How are you going to make yourself useful to society, and are you already working on it?"

I wanted to be an actress when I was five. Hours I spent in the garden, the lawn was my stage, the trees my audience for wich I danced and sang. Pictures of myself in those days all show a little girl with her mouth wide open, singing.

that's funny. adults assume children "want to be" one of the functions of society. but what they really want, is to be for a moment a tiger, or a dragon. i remember those desires.

Jan T

Would the sentence “I would like to sacrifice everything including my toys to see your beautiful eyes again” make more sense to you?
Think by the way of Pavese’s: “Death will come and have your eyes.”
Don’t think of irony, think of a compliment, think of role-play; think of a game.

Talking about eyes

Reminds me of a Jewish proverb: What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.

@Mieke + Dries
Indeed, there is nothing socially functional in those dreams of yours, they are very nice.

RH CdG
Yes. Adults meant to be useful and have status. (to continue about the ‘ electrician’: an aunt then said to me “You should not become an electrician, but an engineer so you can command the people to work for you”. I thought for a while and answered, “No, I want to do it myself!” I was thinking about missing all the fun of touching and connecting those beautiful wires…) So, see my comment to Mieke + Dries.

@Arnon
Yes it would have made more sense to me, but Pavese’s quote is brilliant. Brilliant! (ah, sometimes I need a drawing with it)

Thank you all

Jan

Yes, but because of the lack of social function, it was a dream completely out of the question. " I don't breed whores" was my mothers answer.

mieke

your mother sounds like a charming person. So I wonder, has your interest in acting declined as you got older?

Dries

The theatre is one of the few places I really feel at ease. For the moment I'm ,what one calls ,only a passive participant. In the future I intend to undertake a more active role in it.

when i was very young, i wanted to be a teacher. then it was an archeologist. when i was 16 i told people i wanted to be a terrorist, and there was some truth in it. now i have a nice little office job.