As I Grew Older

I came across this poem last night while I was at work researching:

As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

This poem, by Langston Hughes, was undoubtedly written about being black, as most of Hughes' work dealt with his pride in and love of his colour. But, I doubt that anyone who reads it truthfully feels that this is all that he was expressing when he wrote it.

"As I Grow Older" relates to something that we all experience in our lives, and can empathise with, at whatever age we are. He expresses almost forgetting his dream. I'm sure that we all, at some point in our lives, have had a dream of one sort or another. A hope or a wish for what we would do, or what would happen, when we were older. When I grow up I will…..

Somehow, somewhere in our lives there will always be an obstacle to us achieving that dream, or to us just living how we want and deserve to. The analogy can be made to numerous situations. Barriers because of race, gender, age, religion, mobility, or the reason I chose this poem of his for this article, sexual orientation.

The struggle for equality for black people is a similar one to that of LGBT people, though there is one major difference: visibility. LGBT people are not always immediately visible, and so can chose to remain in the shadows, closeted, as a form of defence against attack. Though this does not make the barriers any less obstructive, the isolation can be more harmful than facing the oppression head-on. In fact, hiding in the shadows just means that you often have to find the courage to emerge from the shadows first before you can tackle the barriers themselves.

When walls are created against you because of your skin colour, it is rarely possible to remain "closeted." The reason for your exclusion is there for all to see. Therefore you need to find the courage to deal with the obstructions day in and day out before you can begin to break through the barriers themselves.

Neither is an enviable position to be in and so should not be allowed to remain a burden for anyone to bear. As well as relating it to matters of sexuality or colour, the poem can also be applied broadly to the whole human race. We are all born with immense potential and the barriers that arise in each of our lives are solely created by humanity. As mankind evolves, so do we see that discrimination of any kind is unnatural and unacceptable. We can all develop and learn to bring down the barriers between us, to help ourselves and our fellow man emerge into the brightness of the sun. To find enlightenment.

Hughes is telling us that our dreams will always be there, it is just our view of them may change or be obscured at some point. Whether the walls are of our own making, or built by others to hinder us, there are always ways to break them down so that we can achieve whatever we want to in our lives. We can all have our day in the sun, but it will mean working together, uniting as one people, to achieve this for everyone.