[W Forum] The Power of Dreams

Hyun Kyung Lee, Executive Director at SK Construction. / Photo by Hyun Min Kim kimhyun81@

When I become interested in someone, I always ask, "What is your dream?" It is a question I never miss asking during interviews with colleagues. When faced with this question, most people hesitate and then answer with the job they want to have at work or the position they want to be promoted to. Occasionally, I meet people who shyly say they want to build a happy family or simply want to earn a lot of money. The "life goals" that people want to achieve through hard work can also be called dreams. However, today I want to talk about a slightly different kind of dream.

While raising three sons in a distant country, New Zealand, I applied to law school at the age of forty. At that time, I had a stable job, and most acquaintances discouraged me, saying I was making unnecessary trouble for myself. Although I was not completely free of hesitation and doubt, I was drawn to apply, and fortunately, I was granted admission. I could not wait for the first semester to start, so I bought an introductory law book in advance and settled in the law library to read it. The excitement I felt then is still vivid. "This is it, this is exactly what I wanted." A joy surged from deep within my soul. The three years of studying law that followed were never easy, but I never once regretted it. Even when I wanted to give up because it was so hard, I was able to endure because I had a dream that made my heart race and my pulse quicken.

Based on my experience working as a lawyer in New Zealand, I am now handling contract work at a construction company. To recover from a major loss, the company formed a claims task force team, which initially consisted of only three members. I volunteered to join this seemingly insignificant team, and my heart began to beat wildly again. At that time, I had no experience with claims, but I really wanted to try and had an inexplicable confidence that I could do well. Over the next seven years, traveling to construction sites scattered around the world, preparing claims documents, and enduring negotiations that lasted months or even years, the driving force that kept me going was the power of my dream.

The Bible tells the story of a man named Joseph. When Joseph was young, he dreamed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him, which was interpreted to mean that Joseph would be elevated above his eleven brothers and parents. Because of this, Joseph was hated by his brothers and was eventually sold into slavery in Egypt. Even when Joseph was unjustly imprisoned, he never complained and always did his best faithfully in the reality given to him. How was that possible? It was because Joseph believed that the dream he had as a child would one day come true. After years in prison, Joseph interpreted the king’s dream and rose to the position of prime minister of Egypt, and thus his dream was fulfilled.

A dream can be a goal you want to achieve by working harder from your current position. Sometimes it may not make sense logically or rationally. Sometimes, considering the situation or conditions you are in, it may seem absurd, and you may not be able to explain it to others or even yourself. But when a heartbeat starts deep in your chest, it becomes energy and passion.

People who live with dreams in their hearts have a different look in their eyes. Even when faced with situations that trample on a dream that has already begun to grow, the dream will grow unless they uproot it themselves. Even when exhausted and sitting down, the dream makes them get up again and continue on their path, and even when it is hard, it helps them overcome the hardship. This is the power of dreams. As we welcome a new season, a new spring, I hope that in the hearts of those who have collapsed because they have no dreams, new shoots of dreams will sprout like fresh buds.

Hyun Kyung Lee, Executive Director, SK Construction

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.