You Give Up a Few Things, Chasing a Dream

Note: If any of you are unfamiliar with the movie “Treasure Planet” or the book Treasure Island, go see/read them and come back if you don't want any spoilers. Otherwise, proceed with your own caution.

In the lesser known animated Disney film “Treasure Planet”, a sci-fy re-telling of Robert Luis Stevenson's Treasure Island, cyborg John Silver and cabin boy Jim Hawkins have a moment after returning from a friendly jaunt among the stars. Silver praises Jim for his flying prowess saying that people would have been singing his praises if he'd had Jim's talent at his age. With a wry laugh, Jim states that that wasn't his experience but that he hoped to change that. “Sometimes - plans go astray,” Silver warns. “Not this time,” Jim responds confidently. At this point, Silver draws attention to his cyborg leg and performs some maintenance with the help of his protoplasmic pink blob pet, Morph. Looking a bit worried, Jim asks, “So, uh, how'd that happen anyway?” Gazing at his mechanical hand, Silver murmurs, “You give up a few things, chasing a dream.”

Dreams are costly things. As much as we like to think of dreams as lovely fluffy things like clouds or unicorns, we must first endure the thunder and lightning and horns before we can see their fulfillment. Throughout modern media, especially in children's literature and films, we are encouraged, even dared, to follow/pursue our dreams. Usually there is shown some kind of struggle, but I don't know that that always give it justice. How many have actually pursued their dreams and found that, far from the single large obstacle in their way that they saw in the movies, they must face obstacle after obstacle after obstacle after obstacle and then a small step forward. To actually achieve one's dreams, one must be willing to sacrifice anything from time to mental/emotional energy upon its altar.

But what happens when the pursuit of a dream becomes bondage? When all of one's energy and focus goes into the fulfillment of the dreams at the expense of everything else? Would our culture still say to pursue it? That the end must and will justify the means? John Silver, aside from the obvious loss of his right leg, right arm, and right eye, sacrifices, albeit somewhat regretfully, his relationships with Jim and even Morph. Finding Captain Flynn's treasure has become his one consuming passion in life. Should we applaud him for his single-minded determination to follow his dream not matter where it lead him? Of course not! He's the villain after all and I think this is important. It is not only a matter of physical or emotional loss that Silver experiences; he loses a part of himself. The part of him that praised Jim's talent and encouraged him when he felt discouraged is abandoned when it comes into conflict with his greater dream of treasure.

It can be easy getting caught up in a dream. I know that I often only see the rosy, golden result at the far end, ignoring the dark and painful road that leads to it. It looks so beautiful, sitting there in its pristine, un-achieved glory. But its beauty can be just as insidious as the siren's song, leading to places you never would have chosen along paths you would never have trodden. I have found myself weighed down with chains of my own making. Like Jacob Marley, I formed my bonds link by link, all the while thinking that I was growing closer to my dream. It was my dream that had been a mine from which I gathered needed iron for my chains. My dream had become a nightmare, something that still retained its golden exterior and promise of good but now held something hidden, something sinister. Like Silver, my dream had turned sour and had consumed a part of me. It had weakened rather strengthened, causing atrophy instead of growth.

Yet, we needn't remain attached to our dreams. We can let them go, let them fly away like loosed balloons, should they be carrying us away from where we ought to be. This is not to say that knowing that a dream has become poisoned means that it's any easier to release. In fact, it can be even more difficult to do so as it is often long-held dreams that become the most binding. But in the loosing there may come even greater good than the good we thought we'd get by holding on to the dream, though it may take time to see the good beyond the loss. Silver comes to realize the depth of his obsession and then must choose which good he really wants, Flynn's treasure or Jim. In a dramatic moment of either holding onto a boat-load of treasure or releasing it to reach the falling Jim, he lets the treasure, the fulfillment of his deepest and longest held dream, fall away so he may save Jim from doing the same. As they're escaping, Jim comments in amazement, “Silver, you gave up...?” Panting for breath, Silver responds, “Just a lifelong obsession, Jimbo. I'll get over it.” And so it can be with releasing a dream. First, we must realize it for what it has become. Then we can decide to let go and get over it.

Now this is in no way trying to diminish the importance of dreams. In fact, dreams are precious things that God gives us to inspire and encourage us onwards to greater things. And even if we must release dreams, that does not necessarily mean that they are gone for good. In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Isaac was the fulfillment not only of Abraham's deepest dream but also of God's promise to him that he would have a son and be the father of many nations. By asking him to sacrifice his son, God was asking him to let go of his dream in a dramatic and seemingly definitive way. Yet Abraham obeyed. When asked by Isaac where the sacrifice would come from, his father answered that God would provide. As he was about to plunge the knife into his son's heart, God stopped Abraham and showed him a ram to sacrifice in Isaac's place. In the same way, we can be asked to let go of a dream or even be asked to kill it, but that may not necessarily be the end of it. It could be simply a season or a test to see where our focus and energies really lie. But even if it should be something left on the side of the road not to be picked up again, may I be able to say that Thy will be done and it is well with my soul.