Column Judith Witte: Chasing dreams

When I grow up, I want to be… “a firefighter, a detective, a top footballer,” the boys would say. “A doctor, a flight attendant, a teacher,” the girls would reply. “A writer,” I dreamed, eight years old at the time.

Dreams are there to be chased. I wrote like there was no tomorrow. Poems, short stories, endless diary entries. On a whim, I once entered a column competition in Viva. I came in third. ‘One day, I want to write a book,’ the interview next to my very first real publication read. It took a while, but here we are: my first book The Future of Food, co-authored with Adjiedj Bakas, is out in the world!

I’ve been lucky—still am—to be able to do (and become) exactly what I wanted. Not everyone is that fortunate. Plenty of people don’t even know what they truly want. Just look at the countless young people taking a gap year these days, hoping to figure it all out. Some sit back, convinced the answer will come to them out of thin air. Spoiler alert: it won’t.

Whether you get the chance to follow your dreams also depends on your circumstances—on whether you can and are allowed to seize the opportunity. Here in the Netherlands, we still have it relatively good, though more and more cracks are starting to show. For instance, Trump’s anti-diversity policies—signed into law by two executive orders in January—are now trickling into Europe. European companies working for the U.S. government are being ordered to drop their diversity policies. That’s not just an unacceptable form of interference from the U.S.; it also clashes head-on with Dutch values and legislation. But what would you do, if your catering company risks losing a major contract by refusing to comply?

And then there’s that other tricky issue: the labor shortage. Labor migration was long seen as THE solution to our tight labor market, but the current Dutch cabinet no longer supports that approach. Laws aimed at limiting migration flows are being tightened across the board. In some respects, that makes sense—especially when it comes to protecting people (many of whom, like you, are driven by big dreams of a better life and income). Every year, an estimated two thousand people—mostly labor migrants—fall victim to labor exploitation. At the same time, these restrictions are creating major challenges for labor-intensive sectors like the food industry.

There are solutions—I firmly believe that. But you won’t find them by leaning back and waiting. Dreaming of a better future is all well and good, but chasing dreams and seizing opportunities requires action. So get up and do something.

Judith Witte
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