Dreams
sön 12 dec 2010 kl 16:18
The invariable mark of a dream is to see it come true. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Dreams. What are they exactly? I've had so many dreams during my lifetime that I've forgotten most of them. But I know I've wanted every single one of them to come true. The bitter reality is that most of them don't. Some do, but most of them don't.
The truth is, I'm not the type of a person who pushes for a dream to come true. In the end, it's not up to you. It's destiny. And it doesn't matter how much you push for it because you can do nothing else than just wait, wait and wait.
Sometimes even I have a hard time believing in myself. What is a dream? How do you keep a dream? And what do you do when you actually have a dream you want to come true? Do you keep it to yourself? Do you tell the people you trust? Or do you have the guts to tell everyone and face the reality?
I understand there's many of you who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, but don't worry, you will.
The things we dream about changes all the time. When we all were little kids, most of our dreams consisted of colorful creatures jumping up and down alongside a sunny beach. When we became teenagers, our dreams changed once again. Suddenly we had let go of the sunny beaches and all we could think about instead were cars, girls and parties. And then we grew up to become grown men - or what we at least thought was grown men - and the dreams changed reality once again. No more silly dreams about Carmen Electra, a flashy Mercedes or the life as a rich businessman.
But no matter what, no matter where and no matter how, there will always be one thing you have always and will always dream about. It's the thing you love the most in the whole world. For some, it's your favourite band, for others, it's your girlfriend. For me, it's Arsenal.
Ever since I was little I've loved Arsenal. It started with a game - it turned into an addiction. Love is hard to put in words, but I'll always remember the day I fell in love at first sight. For me, Arsenal represented everything I loved at that time. Magic, passion, beauty. I was just a little boy, but I knew what love felt like, and I knew that from that day on I was Arsenal 'til I die.
The dreams about Arsenal have been fantastic, beautiful, unforgettable, emotionally painful, amazing, inspiring and just ... everything. I've dreamed about Henry lifting the Champions League-title. I've dreamed of van Persie scoring a hat-trick against Manchester United. I've dreamed of Nasri scoring the last penalty in a cup final. I've dreamed about Fabregas staying in Arsenal for the rest of his career.
I've dreamed about the last league game of the season, seeing the players go down on their knees, seeing the tears in their eyes and seeing the fans go wild. I've seen it, I've seen it all. And believe me, I've never wanted to wake up from those dreams. I've wanted to stay, forever, feeling the joy, happiness and goose bumps all over and over again.
They say we dream to keep ourselves happy, beacuse in reality, dreams never really come true, right? It's just fantasy. It's just a dream world based on nothing what reality is like. But I don't care. I don't really care. I want to dream. I want to see van Persie go down on his knees, kissing the badge and screaming out his joy. I want to see Fabregas creating magic with his feet. I want to see Nasri scoring the last goal of the game, bringing home a trophy to north London. I want to see it, I want to see it all.
Tomorrow we face Manchester United - at Old Trafford. The times have changed. The rivalry is not what it once was, but the passion is still there. And I promise you, I've been dreaming about this game for a long time. I've gone down sliding on my knees in my own kitchen, pretending that I'm Nasri and that I've just scored the game-winning goal in front of 76 000 Manchester United-supporters.
In the end I don't care how we win, as long as we win. But I love painting up pictures like that in my mind. And it's not the first time I've been sliding in my kitchen, thinking I'm an Arsenal player. In the end, we're all like that when it comes to Arsenal. We're all of the same red and white blood.
I understand if you've not understood me at all. I accept that some of you may think I'm stupid, crazy or whatever. And I really do know that some of you may dislike this piece of text. But you know, no matter how silly this all sounds like, I don't care. Because this is the way I feel, this is the way I love Arsenal, this is the way I feel for the club in my heart.
We like this team in different ways, but the one thing we all have in common is that we love this club, and you know why? It's because we're Arsenal, it's because we're all Arsenal.
Hope is a waking dream. - Aristoteles.