[ WP ] A world where kids dream of being accountants , cashiers , bank managers etc . In the adulthood their dreams are crushed when they have to become astronauts , cowboys , ninjas etc .

Until recently, one word could have summed up my life pretty well: `` typical''. 
 
 I took the same route as most of the kids from my neighborhood. After graduating high school, it was off to an in-state university to pick up my major in Awesome Studies. It was easy to follow the pack. In a way, it felt like I was doing the right thing, too. Who could argue with doing what my whole family expected of me? An Awesome degree would open plenty of doors that would take me into a comfortable life. 
 
 But even after I graduated, I could n't get an old college buddy off of my mind. We had n't spoken in years, but I could n't stop thinking about something he'd told me. I still think about it. 
 
 Vince was an unassuming kid. Quiet, studied hard, and if you saw him pass by in the hallway, if you even noticed him, you'd probably think, `` There goes another Formula 1 driver.'' 
 
 But Vince was full of surprises. I was friends with his roommate at first, and did n't much care about this quiet, dorky kid who was always reading in the corner when I was over there drinking or smoking. But when I got talking to him, and he told me that he was an engineering major, it got my attention. 
 
 Want to hear a joke? What does the Engineering major say to the Ninjitsu major? `` Do you want fries with that?'' 
 
 Well, Vince had heard it a hundred times, but he was still doing it. How was he still doing it? How could he have the courage? I'd wanted to be an Engineer once, too. But I figured that one day, you have to let your childhood dreams go, and face the fact that in all likelihood, you're going to spend your adulthood flying through space. 
 
 Vince and I got talking, and I realized that I *liked* talking to him. He was a good listener. He had a good soul. And one day, I asked him. `` How can you stick with Engineering like this? Are n't you afraid it wo n't work out?'' 
 
 He gave me a small smile. `` I'm more afraid of spending the rest of my life wondering if it *would* have worked out.'' 
 
 And those are the words that stuck with me all those years. Even when I took the path that my mother and father expected of me. When I became what they wanted me to be. 
 
 I was the Night. 
 
 There were plenty of Batmans in my family, and they were all proud of me when I took up the `` family business''. I ca n't deny, either, that there was a pleasure in a hard day's work. There was something soothing about routine. Punch in, beat up a couple Riddlers and a Mr. Freeze, and punch out. It was simple. 
 
 It was killing me. 
 
 I was slow to realize it. That routine that I found so calming had a narcotic effect, I still believe that. It numbed me. And as I sit here in my cubicle, going over blueprints and firing off emails, I feel just the opposite. I ca n't help but wonder if I've thrown my life away, blown it. But whenever I feel that way, I think back to what Vince told me. A life spent among the stars can be a life well-lived, I'm not arguing with that. But I could never live with myself if I did n't at least try to sit down with my T-square, and take a shot at my dreams. 
 
 *** 
 
 r/Click_Klack
