A Trend About Having Ideals [EF#17]

Bismillaah…

Honestly, when I was a child, I was really proud because almost all my friends have had their valuable dreams. We used to call that dream as our precious future goals, the ideals. Sometimes we had a competition to write about our each ideals and then we had to tell it to the others in front of our classroom. There were absolutely no feeling ashamed, inferiority, or doubts. As if any aspects of pessimistic has never existed on our minds at that time. Everything was positive. And we were very proud of holding tight our ideals. Ah, I really missed that moment.

It is All About Trend

Based on my observation, having a childhood ideals is one of the trend results. Just like any fashion trends, culture trends, and even the behavior is associated with trends. And talking about trends, we can always connect the role of media as its carrier. In fact, media is evolving. The old-time media is quite different with the current version. The speed of access and the information coverage have much improved rapidly. This kind of circumstances may become a differentiating factor between our ideals in past time and today.

In the past time, information was very limited. The filtration of its contents did not need any big effort. It was because the number of the content itself was relatively few comparing to the huge amount of information that we have seen today. Most of the people have had just followed the pattern. A simple pattern which had been presented by no more than five TV channels and some local newspapers. As simple as the answer of any children who had been asked about ideals. The typical answer was becoming a pilot, doctor, military officer, engineer, or even a president. It was because those professions were commonly considered as the best role model and worth to be imitated by all Indonesian children.

My childhood ideals – becoming a navy.

I myself has had a dream to become a navy. I had always loved with its white uniform. It was elegant, so tidy and created a prestige impression. Besides, by becoming a navy, I dreamed of sailing to the oceans all over the world by using any military ships owned by the largest maritime fleet in Indonesia, which is located in my hometown, Surabaya. It seemed cool if you can sail with one of the legendary sailing ship of Indonesia, Dewaruci.

KRI Dewaruci – One of Indonesian legendary sailing ships which has a base location in Surabaya.

Unfortunately, my ideals had been stopped when I was in high school. I experienced nearsighted eyes and should be wearing glasses. We know that one of the main requirements to get into the military is not wearing glasses. But that was not a problem though. I thought that role might not suit me well. I could not even imagine what kind of life I am going to live by being a navy with my current physical and mental condition. I believe everyone has its own role to live and to be grateful because of its existence.

The Extinction of a Normative Ideals

What about today? Now we are flooded with multi-dimensional information from all directions. TV channels are no longer counted into just five. The local newspaper has not lost its part as well. And the role of the Internet becomes more and more unstoppable by using advanced mechanisms. And its access is capable of presenting thousands of information in a matter of seconds. I myself am not sure whether there are lofty ideals that are owned by the children nowadays. Or maybe I do not understand and too naive with all the changes. From what I observed, looks like I’ve rarely heard a normative answer such as becoming a pilot, a doctor, or an engineer. The answers have become definitive ones. Being a well-known journalist, a successful businessman, becoming a sophisticated hacker, becoming a professional software freelancer, a famous painter, and becoming a great diplomat are some definitive examples nowadays. In fact, the trend has been shifted. It seems most of the children and adolescents now are wanting to become a famous artist or singer. That would be an easiest way to get popularity and become rich I believe.

Pros and Cons

Normatively or definitively, ideals have always been ideals. The good ideals deservedly appreciated. If the old-time ideals have a close correlation with the normative imagery because of its limitation of accessing information, then the current type of ideals are more wildly definitive. It is because the inspirations can come from anywhere and fully supported by any quick services of information technology.

The old-time normative ideals will always be safe in the matter of normative value. Negative infiltration is minimum because the information itself is very limited. But, this kind of circumstances is claimed to be the obstacle of our creativity. Children’s viewpoint is now much wider than the old days before the Internet era. So it does not seem innocent, naive, completely taboo anymore. While the definitive ideals which have been known today is very dangerous if the infiltration has not maintained properly. Children can be very wild with their imagination. How many kids who want to be a gangster just because of their daily negative consumptions. From TV, movie scenes, comic books, video games, and from any other media which has become their inspiration. It is our role to keep them safe, right?

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This post is a submission for BEC’s English Friday, theme: Childhood Memories, 17^th topic: Future Goals Now and Then. If you want to know more, please join us! 😀

My other English Blogging Club posts:
[EF#16] An Obedient Cat
[EF#15] Behavioral Study of Board Games
[EF#14] Sketching My Favorite Manga Character – Conan Edogawa
[EF#13] Bad Bad Bad Badminton
[EF#12] My Bio-Cycle Story
[EF#11] Eager to Wear Eiger
[EF#10] Indonesian Traditional Pastry and Cakes
[EF#9] Photography 101 Solitude Meet-up
[EF#8] Please Check Your Whensapp
[EF#7] The Story of Romance
[EF#6] ALTERnativE GOd given
[EF#5] Connecting the Dots
[EF#4] What if Nobita was a Genius
[EF#3] Gadget in a Pervasive World
[EF#2] The Wildest Dream: Becoming a President