Are we born free? How many office workers--suffocating under the burdens of their jobs and endless housework--see their dreams slowly shrink and evaporate, so that when they have a day off, they are clueless as to what there is to their lives apart from work and family?

To realize an even grander dream, eye doctor Ho Ye-tao has volunteered to provide medical services on numerous trips to distant locales. The child in this photo would not regain vision even if given an operation, so Ho painfully refused his request so that another child might take advantage of the opportunity.

Avocations

On most days you can find Wu Chien-hua, a driver for National Central University, transporting students and professors on his slow-moving university bus. But once he gets out from behind the wheel, he becomes a lover of diving. In the weightless environment of the ocean, he marvels at the beauty of marine life, and his mood "turns from black-and-white to color." Wu has gained expertise in diving and is now a deep-sea diving instructor at the National College of Physical Education and Sports.

Every Wednesday evening, Liu Chien-hsiung, the president of Hsinchu's Nan Men General Hospital, and Nan Men staff physicians Liu Ying-shan and Chang Ming-sheng, take off their doctor's coats and go to perform music at East Gate Plaza, known as the "heart of Hsinchu."

In a society based on division of labor, work is often divorced from interest. Once people enter the workforce, they conform to societal expectations and find themselves constantly defined and hemmed in by the profession on their name cards. Their lives become static.

It was not always so. Before the industrial revolution, the classical Chinese literati strived to become accomplished in the "six arts" (rites, music, archery, chariot driving, literary skills and mathematics). And was not Leonardo da Vinci both a gifted painter and a gifted scientist? For renaissance men it was difficult to put a lifetime of passion and energy exclusively into their professional realm. If anything, that should be even more the case for healthy, wealthy modern people, who may have 50 or 60 peak years to squander. Hence, apart from work, following one's dreams provides a door to one's wishes, giving people in the age of professional specialization a chance at self-transformation. It's not only an outlet for their passions and ideals, but it also provides important stress relief.

Ho Ye-tao cultivated an interest in medicine from a young age. Having performed more than 40,000 operations, he is one of the lucky few to have realized his dreams in his work.

Life begins at 50

Daniel Chieh, born by the Akungtien Reservoir in Kaohsiung in 1945, liked to paint from a young age. In junior high he began to study oil painting. But he scored "too well" on the Joint University Entrance Exams, so that though he had been looking forward to attending the National Taiwan College of Arts, he entered the Department of International Trade at National Chengchi University. He became an international marketing expert and served as general manager and director for multinational corporations.

In 2002, after stepping down from heading Greater China operations for the Schmidt Group, a German technology company, Chieh discovered that his life was free from care, so he picked up a brush to fulfill his youthful dream of becoming an artist. For four years, he has followed the migration of red-crowned cranes, flying to Siberia, Daxing'anling in China, the northern islands of Japan and the Korean peninsula--all to capture lifelike renderings of red-crowned cranes.

With regard to balancing his work and his dreams, Daniel Chieh has a practical "three lives" philosophy, consisting of "life, living, and lifestyle." Life is fragile so one needs to work out and keep healthy. You've got to make a living to be able to support your family. And only with these two can you enjoy a lifestyle wherein you can pursue your dreams.

For those in middle age, already anticipating retirement, social obligations always come before their dreams. At the same time as realizing their dreams, they must live up to their responsibility to take care of their families. Consequently, there is a two-act model: a person's first act is making a family and establishing a career, and pursuing professional success, and the second act is the "golden age" in which people seek personal fulfillment.

Michael Tao, chairman of children's clothing company Chickabiddy, feels that if you find it difficult to combine your work with your dreams, there are two things you should do. First, you must learn to find pleasure in adversity and maintain a happy working attitude. Second, you might as well try to expand the scope of your dreams. For instance, he loves country music, and he then expanded that to Peking Opera, Kun Opera, Taiwanese Opera and pop music. "The broader your interests, the easier it is to incorporate them into your life and take joy from them." Tao stresses that it is important not to have overly narrow, or inflexible dreams.

"You don't have just one role in life. At different stages of life, different things are primary and different things secondary," notes Sung Pan-ping, a section chief in the Department of Compilation and Translation at the Government Information Office, about more than 20 years of balancing work, family and personal fulfillment.

At age 17, Sung became taken with Kun Opera, and it is through Kun Opera that she met her husband, a bamboo flute player who is now a university professor. The husband and wife have worked hard to pass down the legacy of Kun Opera in Taiwan. Yet after her two daughters were born, Sung, as a professional woman, was caught between her work and her children, and for nearly ten years she cast aside all opportunities to perform. But she still made the effort to take in an occasional show and to teach opera. "No matter what, I wouldn't leave it entirely," she says.

It wasn't until her children were older that Sung accepted a position as director of the opera company in the year 2000. Apart from her administrative duties, two or three nights a week she teaches opera and rehearses. And on holidays and weekends, when they actually perform, her husband or younger sister takes care of her children.

"Kun Opera has been something I've counted on my whole life. By now it almost takes higher priority than my family!" says Sung, who has attained a rich, full life. She really inhabits her roles--tasting the joys and sorrows, separation and reunion in the operas. She finds stepping into new roles addictive and rewarding.

Sung Pan-ping, who has worked as a public servant for more than 20 years, gives her all to promoting the Shuimo Kun Opera Company, which she directs.

Extending our dreams

Doctor Ho Ye-tao, who developed an interest in medicine as a little boy and in high school resolved to become a doctor, belongs to the lucky minority who are able to realize their dreams in their work.

Ho is Taiwan's leading cataract specialist, and was the first physician to introduce the complicated ultrasound cataract emulsification procedure to both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He has restored vision to more than 40,000 people.

As he approached middle age, Ho began to thirst for more meaning in his life. Since joining the charity Orbis International two years ago, he has gone with its plane, equipped as a flying eye hospital, to provide eye surgery in backward regions of China, such as Yunnan and Xinjiang.

So as to help even more people, he has demonstrated surgical procedures time and time again. An expert, Ho has offered all he knows about emulsification. He has taught local medical personnel, using televisions in the classroom as teaching aids. By leaving his own clinic to treat patients in a foreign land, his medical dream has grown only more expansive.

Ho passionately loves practicing as a surgeon and hopes to continue to operate as long as he is physically capable of it, after which he hopes to open a small eye clinic and second-hand stereo shop.

An audiophile, Ho has installed top-of-the-line stereos not only in his stereo room but also in his bedroom, study, and hallway that would be the envy of any sound geek. He has even installed high-end stereos in his clinic's operating room, office, and waiting room. "Many patients sing along as they are operated on and don't want to get out of the operating chair after the procedure is finished!" Ho laughs.

On the stage of life, we wait and prepare for the day when our dreams will finally come true. Pictured here is a performance of Cursive III by the Cloud Gate Dance Theater.

Don't forget your dreams

People who have dreams have hope. Those who have successfully realized their dreams invite envy, but those in difficult circumstances find it more difficult to persevere in following their dreams.

Li Yu-chin, who has taught flower arranging for more than ten years, married over 20 years ago. Ever since, she has been very busy taking care of her husband's family, including his grandmother, who suffered a stroke, and grandfather, who is nearly blind, as well as raising three children. It is not hard to imagine how hectic her days have been.

Despite being so busy after she married, Li always kept taking flower-arranging classes just as she had when she was single. One afternoon every week, she puts aside her family matters and devotes her full attention to the beauty of the art of flower arranging. In the space between blooming and wilting, she sets asides her cares, and her melancholy is released.

Staying with it, Li has naturally ended up teaching the art of flower arranging. Not only has she made the most of her gift, but she has had the opportunity to meet students from many different realms. When she has time, Li drives students in her nine-seat minibus to a beautiful restaurant to spend half a day of leisure.

"As long as the bus is full of laughter, I feel happy! That counts as realizing a dream too!" says a laughing Li, whom her students call a "culinary tattle tale."

Realizing one's dreams is not the exclusive province of the wealthy and leisured. As long as you hold and nurture dreams, they may one day come true.