I Know Who You Are

    I been having some real strange dreams lately. This is unusual because I had lost the ability to have dreams like this after developing tinnitus and coming to rely on a sleeping aid to get the rest I need. The dreams I normally have are tortured affairs where my mind keeps going back to one idea over and over. 

     Yesterday morning, I was bothered by this dream where there was some gigantic contest involved like the one in the movie Ready Player One. When it came down to the final part there was a two prong question that couldn't be solved. One involved the lighting of a fuse and because no one knew the answer, the fuse remained unlit. I can't remember what the other question was, but I know it was equally perplexing.

       I remember snippets of the dream, and that it was taking place underground, and I was surrounded by people I didn't want to be around and in a place I didn't really want to be. I had to step through water on two occasions and on both occasions there were monster like creatures, but they weren't real frightening because they were both cartoonish and made of cheap plastic like those toys you win at the fair for putting a ping pong ball in red plastic cup.

        This morning, I was wakened by a dream where I was underground again and sitting in a chair with someone in a hallway and down the hallway I could see a young lady also sitting in the hallway and watching something taking place in another room from the doorway. I was with someone but I don't know who. Suddenly, a short, round faced man came from around the corner. I looked at the young lady and back at the man, and I knew he was her brother and that he had remained quietly in the background while steadily pushing her forward to shine.

         I grabbed him by the hand and shook his hand furiously while telling him, "I know who you are." I knew the lady was a sweet person, tender hearted, and accomplished, and that he was largely responsible for her development as a human being. I was trying to let him know that I understood his selflessness, and also that he couldn't hide it because that kind of stuff can't be hidden. It was like the old song we used to sing in church, "Hide it under a bushel no, I'm going to let it shine."

          The dream woke me up, and I was trying to remember it all. It seems to me that we have lost this ability to step back and let others take the credit. Everyone is dealing with deep traumatic issues and seeking approval from anyone and everyone outside of themselves. We no longer seem to be satisfied  with knowing that we should think and do the right things simply because they are the right things to do.

           We need to quit listening to those jackals who would strip our bones bare for their own amusement and the amusement of others, quit paying the salaries of those who have become famous for throwing shade on others and trying to drag people down just so they can be on top, and quit making heroes out of people whose only really real skill lies in telling us how great they are.

            And when we run across that person inside of us that we have allowed the opinions of others to have beaten into silence,  we need to grab him or her by the hand, and say, "I know who you are. I know you."