One Day to Go

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be 23. I still cannot believe it. I remember when I was a child how I used to calculate the years to know how old would I be when 2000 would come. How I used to calculate when I would finish school and university. I took it for granted that I would obtain an MA and then I would be a professor assistant and eventually a professor.

That was and still is my dream. The dream grew with me and I added to it a little year after year. Imagine myself standing there in the lecture hall and lecture. Talk to the students and touch there lives, change their mind, and give them hope about the future and how to deal with the future. I have always admired Michele Pfeiffer for her role in Dangerous Minds. Then when I studied literature, I loved Robin Williams for his performance in Dead Poets' Society.

It is not that I loved to be a teacher, for I was among those students who always made fun of some teachers and tried to make noise in class. However, teachers could not but love me for being funny and smart. I loved lecturing because each year of my four years in the attending classes at university I admired a certain professor and kept registering for his/her class next semester.

I'll be 23 and full of hope. I expect a lot from myself. I haven't accomplished what I endeavor. I loved to learn languages, skills, and many other things in life. I made up a list after being inspired by something I read in Chicken Soup for the Soul. The story was about John Goddard, a 15-year-old boy, who sat down at his kitchen after a rainy afternoon. He wrote down 127 goals under the heading "My Life List". He accomplished 108 goals of the list. Among those goals was reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and reading the complete works of Shakespeare.

I read the story before I went to bed and that made me think and think. Until I got out of bed reached for my notebook and pencil to write. Just like the 15-year-old boy, I wrote "My Life List". Under this title, I divided what I wanted for life, for a career, the degrees I want to get, the places I want to visit, what skills I would like to learn, the books I wanted to read, and even about simple things that I missed in my life. I kept writing for a while until it reached 63 goals in general (sometimes many things went under the same wish like the books I wanted to read or places to visit).

So far, I have done many things that I used to fancy; I studied abroad, I am writing poetry and stories, sang and played violin on stage, took a lead role in a play, and many other things I've done during the 22 years of my life.

Twenty-two years sounds a long period yet a short one compared to other people's lives. I don't know how I made it to reach this age. I was born and raised during a war and reached my teenage hood and adulthood in another. Twenty-two is relatively short because I have not experienced life as any other ordinary person would on earth. Still I am thankful that, I was born in Iraq; otherwise, I think my life would have been completely different.

As for the list of my life, which I wrote January 11th, I'm proud to say that I have the determination to be what I want to be. I know it is not much but this is the first step towards fulfilling my endeavors.

This is a simple poem I wrote just to cheer up my life and brighten my thoughts:

Someday
The sun will shine
High up in the sky
Smiling to the universe
Spreading love
And hope

The golden rays
Will pure the days
From wars and raids
I'll be waiting here
For the new day
When we'll sing and dance
Celebrate real liberty

The sun will rise again
To dry rainy tears
Of crying children,
Iraqi women and elderly

The sun will sure
Concord the world
With nothing but love
And have a better place
For you and me.