I have a dream

Many want to eat but only a few are willing to hunt. Life will hit you but do you have the courage to hit back at life?

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I spent the afternoon reading a book while watching my parents. My dad used to play a song before he goes to work. One of his favorite artists is Abba.

I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me cope with anything.

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While believing that I was limitless, life was showing me how limited my parents were.
They were standing there.

"how can I pay the bills and buy food with this money?" mom asked.
"I will look for extra money, deal with it first" dad answered.
my mom cried and shouted, "I am not a magician."

If you see the wonder of the fairytale, you can take the future even if you fail.

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40 pesos was my high school allowance. I asked myself, how could my parents afford to send me to college? I didn't know what is at the end of the road, all I knew was I need to jump. I only have 500 pesos for my entrance exam and I don't know where to get money for my tuition fee and school allowance but I did it anyway.

Life will hit you, but have the courage to hit back at life.

"Ma, I will take engineering at PUP-Manila," I said.
"Why can't you just take any course available at the University of Makati, you just need 10 pesos for your fare? she asked. That day, I felt like no one supported me. No one wanted me to reach for my dreams. But I understood her point. She just wanted to be realistic.

I know you also have your bigger dreams. A lot of times, we let our dreams die, thinking that if we reach for them, we will only get pain and heartaches. People who dream, take the first action, and win are the stuff of fairytales. In reality, we fall, we fail, we get hurt.

I had to ride the PNR train from PUP-Sta Mesa to FTI just to get home quickly at the cheapest price, every day for 5 years. You have no idea how horrible it was. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't sit, it was like Train to Busan, and people inside were all willing to kill just to get their spot.

I had to be like them or else, I need to wait for another 30 minutes to 1 hour to get into the next train. I was crying to the universe. “Why was I born poor?” almost every day for so many years.

I believe in angels, something good in everything I see.

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It was my graduation day. All I could feel was bliss seeing both of my parents proudly watched me as I step into the stage to get my diploma. I knew that it was not the end but only a start of bigger challenges.

When you take a course that would require a licensure exam, graduating is only half the battle. I knew life would again hit me but I’ve come so far, I will not be defeated. I had saved enough money from my scholarship to pay for my review. No one can stop me from getting that license. It was to be the definition of my success and my only bridge to leave poverty. I had to pass at all cost.

Life will hit you but have the courage to hit back at life.

The dramatic night of waiting for the list of New Electronics Engineer came, I surrendered it all to the universe. It knows what I’ve done just to reach the finish line. The universe was not blind to my efforts because that night I became an engineer.

It all started with a dream. But to make your dreams into reality, you must work for it and fight for it. Life will hit you. You don't just accept defeat. Hit back at it!

And my destination makes it worth a while.

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Yes, my destination makes it worth a while. I am now working at a prestigious company and it pays me well. My childhood dreams have become a reality. I have elevated the lives of my parents, I get to travel to different places, I’ve started my small business and many more. If I didn't fight at all cost, I wouldn't be here in front of you.

Now, I have new dreams. I don’t want to just work for this prestigious company, I want to be a leader In it. That is why I’m here, why I am a Toastmaster. Because Toastmasters International, is where leaders are made.

I know you all have a bigger dream. Don't let it die within you. You can choose to be a victim or someone who handled what life threw at you and won.

Never stop dreaming. Never stop pursuing because one day all your hard work will pay off. After all, life will hit you, but have the courage to hit back at life.