To Be Or Not To Be

It came to my mind to ask many Syrian kids from different social classes about their hopes, dreams and what do they like to be in future…
When I asked Samir, 8-year-old, “What do you want to be in future?” with full confidence he said “ I ‘m sure I’ll be a plastic surgeon, all people want to look better, I’ll make a great profit from it, I’ll gain a lot of money and I’ll be rich, I also wish to reach the age of 17 because my father promised me to buy me a BMW motorcycle, I’ll not let anyone race me because I’ll be the winner!”



Joudy 10-year-old, she already speaks two languages perfectly in addition to Arabic, she answered me without hesitation; “interior designer, I also love fashion, and yeah I can’t wait till I grow up to do a plastic surgery to my nose, there is something wrong with it, I don’t like it. I also will drive my mother’s car or buy a new one and let little kids sit in the back so I’ll take them to nice places to play.”

Dalia, 8-year-old, I asked her in Arabic but she answered me in English “I want to be a scientist, but for a now I’ve big dream, I would like to fly in the sky where the clouds are all full of sweats and candies, so I can eat them all without having any teeth pain or caries”. A minute of silence… then “Ghalia, can I be more than one thing?” I told her that yes she can, then she added “ I also want to be an artist (I love painting), a school director, an accountant and bar-code specialist, a swim teacher, a traveler, a cook ( I would like to cook a delicious food)”, a shopkeeper… actually her list goes so long… but she ended telling me “ I hope to make them all real”.

Hameed, 9-year-old, I met him in Old Damascus at Souq al-Hamidiyeh, he was supposed to be at school while he was actually working as a goods porter, “What do you want to be in the future?” I asked. He looked at me quizzically, he needs not to say anything, from his reaction I knew that he had never thought of that. “I don’t know, I have to ask my father, he will decide for me, I really don’t know!”


Same as Hameed, Tamer also doesn’t know what to be in the future, he said “Whatever, I’ll be anything, I really don’t know, I do have some wishes, but I’m sure none will come true” he flashed me a smile, then he felt shy, while I felt foolish because I understood what he meant. He has many things to worry about today, tomorrow can certainly wait!.

Abdo, 12-year-old was afraid of me, he answered me cautiously “ I want to be an employee”, “do you go to school?” I asked, “yes, I do, I’m at the sixth grade” you should not leave your school if you want to be an employee” I commented. “I know, I will not” he said. But ironically it was a school time when I asked him while he was selling kind of whistles and balloon for kids.



At last, Fawzi and Khaled seem to be close friends, they both are 11-year-old, I met them coming back from school, they both want to study Islam and be specialist of Islamic law and jurisprudence, “We will be Muslim clerics and we are already studying in an Islamic school that we love it.”

P.S. Those children do not represent the society, each one of them is a unique child with his dreams, hopes, wishes and life to live.