We Are Not the True Murderers of Our Dreams, Nor Society — Poverty Is

“Do you think we’ll ever leave this island?”

“Of course. Someday we’ll travel the world.”

“That’s right, I’ll be a well-known performer, you’ll be a writer, and she’ll be a nurse.”

My friends and I used to sit on the sandy shores of our hometown, underneath the sky adorned with countless glimmers of stars, each embodying the dreams we held and the hope we had. We spoke of dreams that stretched beyond the shores of our island, uttered places we had never seen, vented lives we had never lived, and shared unknown futures filled with promises.

But those whispers of reveries are whisked away by the dusky winds of poverty.

Some abandoned their dream courses for cheaper alternatives, while others retraced their steps to our island for affordable universities and lower living costs. Some settled for paths, denuded of slots and connections. Some, including myself, chose a practical track out of fear of poverty, haunted by the thought of our parents’ sacrifices going to waste. It pains my soul to remember how our eyes sparkled and our voices soared with visions and hopes that we now set free.

It’s a painful irony that while people’s dreams are boundless, their resources are not. The education they yearn for, the opportunities they crave, are often just out of reach. It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff, seeing the other side but having no bridge to cross. Their ambitions are met with the harsh reality of financial constraints, and it feels as though society blames them for not trying hard enough.

It’s easy to tell people they should follow their dreams, but in reality, shadows lurk and loom — poverty. With each passing day, the lack of resources strangles the aspirations of many. In reality, the weight of poverty crushes spirits before they can even take flight. For some of us, even the act of dreaming felt like a forbidden luxury, a waste of time better spent on survival.

We have been taught to believe that hard work and perseverance are enough to achieve our dreams. But how can we believe this when the very ground we stand on is eroding beneath our feet? When the very base of our dreams, meant to support them, resembles a crumbling pyramid? Beneath the scarcity of resources that quells our dreams lies deep-rooted inequality that widens the gap between aspiration and realization. We live in a world where power and privilege often determine access to education, opportunity, and advancement, stifling the dreams of countless individuals within an unfair structure.

It’s easy to say that dreams are killed by a lack of ambition or societal pressure, but in reality, it’s the absence of resources, the fear of poverty, and the broken system that cause dreams to wither and die — much like a flower struggling to bloom in a desert. No matter how much it yearns for sunlight or how strongly it wishes to spread its petals, it cannot thrive without water. Poverty is that unyielding drought, sapping the life from our aspirations. We were children with hearts full of hope, but our circumstances kept our dreams grounded.

Poverty is a thief that steals not just our material wealth, but our potential, our possibilities, our very futures. It was the force that turned dreams into distant stars, beautiful yet unreachable.

We are not the true murderers of our dreams, nor is society. Poverty is the enemy we must all combat together. To fight poverty is to fight for our dreams, to reclaim the futures that were stolen from us. Let us not allow poverty to be the legacy we leave behind, but rather the battle we fought and won.

Someday, our island will not merely be a place where dreams are whispered about, but lived.