Life as a Journey Driven by Dream

My Last Lecture

Life is uncertain and nonpermanent. What I wish to say for now is for uncertain life tomorrow. As a person who has gone through a great deal of difficulties, challenges and opportunities, I would like to share with you part of my personal story which I think is part of my job to do as a person who see sun light before you. My life and success are mostly driven by my dream and vision with actions and dedication.

Today I want to share my dream with you and help you to create and realize your dreams. Now let’s start with Dream Creation. Before doing that we need to distinguish day dream and real dream. A real dream goes along with actions and commitments. All of you should have big dreams! Just aim high! When you throw a stone into the air, according to physics, you need to measure 45 degree in order to maximize the distance. But to aim your dream you should measure 90 degree. Although you could not possible reach it you could reach some points close to it!

You should view the world around you as half empty full and dreams are the tool helping you to do that. Being optimistic about the future is part of your happiness. When I was young I liked looking at the sky and had a dream that I could fly like a bird. I could see and touch clouds. I did not know at that time that the world was round. I thought it was flat. Up there in the sky I thought there was a ceiling or heaven. Every elders in my village wish to do good things in order to reach there (sky=heaven). As a child I believed the same. How could I go to heaven/sky? Every afternoon, I slept outdoor and imagined that I was up the sky flying with birds happily. I tried to configure the clouds into several types of animals as many as possible so that I could live with animals and nature. Dream to fly is quite common among children.

As primary school children, when I encountered the word student and intellectual, I was so happy and wanted to be called student or intellectual one day. Looking at what was happening in my village which is rampaged by civil war and landmines, no one could imagine that we would become student. Although I had little hope of becoming a student, I kept my dream and tried to study hard. I never skip class unless the school was closed or teachers could not come. I really wanted to learn. I did my best to organize learning group/club with my friends to study at home. I realized a dream to become student in 1997 when I first time entered the gate of the University. There were only six of us from the same primary school who could become students.

I had a dream to get scholarship to study abroad despite the fact that I did not any things beyond Cambodia. My knowledge of the world was simply that other countries were more developed, peaceful and better than Cambodia. Going to study abroad was our big dream! I had less hope but a dream. I realized that dream in the end of 1997 after I got exams to get scholarship to study in Vietnam. There were 50 Cambodian students got scholarship at the time.

Another dream was in my last year in Vietnam. I told my friends that I had a dream to go to study in Japan. To get scholarship to study in Japan was extremely competitive. It required a great deal of knowledge especially English language skill. I did my best to learn English in Vietnam and a little bit Japanese. After three years of preparation, I could use English to some extent especially speaking and listening skills. After four years of hard work, I was top of my class (only international students in my class, most of them come from Laos). After graduating from the university in Vietnam, I returned back to Cambodia to find a job. I was lucky to work with Japan Assistance Team for Small Arms Management in Cambodia for more than one year before I got scholarship to study Master degree in Japan. My dream came true again. I really wanted to have lectures in English. It was my first time in Japan to really learn English in the class. To have lectures conducted in English was also my dream.

I told my mother, relatives, and friends that I had a dream to get Doctoral Degree from abroad. No one believed in me because having Doctoral Degree from abroad was extremely hard for Cambodian. I had low hope but a dream. I kept dreaming of that. Fortunately, I could extend my scholarship to Phd degree at one of the famous international universities in Japan. My dream came true.

Another dream was to study in the United States. Getting visa to visit the US was really hard. Poor student like me would not have chance to do it. Only few rich and smart people could go to study in the United States. Once again I could realize my dream.

I have a dream that I could work at the international research institute or international organizations for a period of time before coming back to work in Cambodia. I have a dream to become an advisor to the Cambodian government. I have a dream to become foreign minister of Cambodia. These are my real dream. I have prepared my action plan for that.

So dreams are important. You can have your dreams for free. You don’t need to pay anything for them just invest your time and efforts. Dream could be realized with your own patience, dedication, commitment and support from others. Don’t forget the others (including your family, mentors, friends, and anyone who could assist you someway somehow). To realize my dreams from now I need to build a network of knowledge and trust. Trust is the most challenging one. How to get trust from others if you don’t trust yourself? Trust and believe in yourself first. This takes along time and efforts. Self-reflection is important for self-realization. Know yourself first before trust yourself.

Finally, don’t think that life is easy. Life is struggle. Life is a journey. Life is a process. Life is for a reason: maybe you want live for God, maybe you want to live for others, or may be you live to change for a better world. Happiness and Sadness go together like Yin and Yang. I tend to perceive struggling as a gift for me. Without struggling life is just incomplete.

My last words to you are: have many big dreams, take actions to realize those dreams but don’t be disappointed when you could not realize them; it is normal. Your life is limited; you could not survive forever; but remember that before you go you should do something good for this planet.