ISSUE
Claim: Even though young people often receive the advice to “follow your dreams,” more emphasis should be placed on picking worthy goals.
Reason: Many people’s dreams are inherently selfish.
ESSAY
As children, we are filled with fanciful notions of what we can grow up to become. Many children are infused with grandiose thoughts concerning how their futures will transpire. As we grow older, the realities of adulthood cause many individuals to be more pragmatic about their dreams.
I concur with the author's statement that "more emphasis should be placed on picking worthy goals" because "many people's dreams are inherently selfish". In this context, I define worthy goals to reflect aspirations that contribute to the greater good of society and protects oneself harm.
Critics of my stance may argue that not following your dreams can lead to a passionless, unhappy life. While there may be some veracity to the above statement, the opposite can also be true. There are innumerable examples in business and history which underscore why our childish dreams should be tempered in order to serve worthier pursuits.
For example, a segment of the population harbored childhood dreams of garnering prodigious fortunes and social status on Wall Street by working for the big banks. These individuals pursued erudite degrees in math and physics in order to become the "quants" of wall street. The result of their avarice fueled dreams led to the 2008 financial crisis. If these geniuses had selected worthier goals and utilized their intellectual acumen for other pursuits, millions of people would not have lost their homes and financial nest eggs.
Additionally, innumerable young boys dream of playing football professionally for the NFL. The fame and fortune associated with this career lure kids as young as 7 years old to the gridiron. Science has now revealed the incredible damage playing football inflicts upon a person's brain in the form of CTE. It is widely accepted that playing football at any level (and especially at the professional level) causes traumatic damage to an athlete's brain. This degree of self-harm and damage undercuts the trite belief that someone should blindly "follow their dreams".
It is abundantly clear through the lenses of corporate america and professional sports that the trope "follow your dreams" should not be adhered to blindly. Many of the goals harbored by our youth are inherently selfish. They can stem from a hunger for fame and fortune at the expense of one's body and even the well-being of society at large.
27 Feb 2018, 18:31 
