Lim: Dreamers

Saturday, February 4, 2012

DURING his acceptance speech at the 2012 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, French actor Jean Dujardin, silent star of “The Artist,” wistfully said, “I was a very bad student. I didn’t listen in class. I was always dreaming. My teacher called me Jean of the Moon. I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream.”

I was struck by what Dujardin said because, well…I was also a bad student. I also didn’t listen in class. And I guess I was also always dreaming.

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It was not my intention to disrespect my teachers. But except for a select and memorable few, most of the teachers I encountered in my life were immensely uninteresting and uninspiring. In most cases, they simply went through the motions. No fire. No dedication. No passion.

It wasn’t that I hated school either. On the contrary, I had such a thirst for learning that I went back to school many times in my life to learn some more.

But I guess I was looking for something else in school--and whatever it was, I failed to find it.

While I never had a failing grade, I can’t forget something I read about education. Someone said that when a student fails, we have to ask ourselves if indeed it was the student who failed or if it was the school or the system that failed the student.

Of course, as a child, I didn’t know what I was looking for. But as an adult, I realized what it was. And my Beijing professor captured it perfectly. “You don’t come to school for knowledge because knowledge you can get from a book. You come to school for insight. That is what you get from your professors.”

Insight. Inspiration. The impetus to do more, to do better. The stuff I was looking for but never found. And so, I simply moved on. And I guess that is what you would call “dreaming.”

I’m not saying it’s right--to not pay attention in class. I knew it was wrong. In fact, as a child, I would pray so hard at the end of each year that I would change for the better the following year--and changing for the better meant becoming more attentive and less talkative in class.

But I guess I was made from a different mold. My prayers didn’t bear fruit. My constant and continuing New Year’s resolution eventually gave way to reality. While I was not lacking in desire or intent, I was sorely lacking in strength and resolve to better myself.

Like Dujardin, though, I never stopped dreaming.

When I was 7, I dreamt of becoming an astronaut. When I was 13, I dreamt of becoming a Solid Gold dancer. By the time I turned 16, my foremost dream was to become a writer.

I will probably never win a SAG Best Actor award. And it’s probably too late to be an astronaut or professional dancer. But amazingly, I am actually a writer.

Dreams do come true.

Two lessons today. Give dreamers a break. And teachers, please, please try to deliver insight and inspiration to your students. Because I failed at being a good student, I tried really hard to be a good teacher. I hope I succeeded.

More dreams waiting to come true.

(sunstarcebucolumnist@yahoo.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanietlim)