Birthday Dream

On this day of the celebration of my birth, September 29

I have a DREAM.

I DREAM, 

Amid personal unfathomable emotional pain

• pain that travels into the abyss of my being.

I DREAM for friends, families, and fraternities

Marred by division, deafness, disagreement, discord, disharmony, and disunion.

I DREAM of healing and reconciliation

. . . among friends

. . . among family members

. . . among colleagues

. . . among political leaders

. . . among religious leaders

. . . among ethnic groups

. . . among socially stratified groups

. . . among nations.

We hurt

We disappoint

We destroy

We fail

Each other,

Sometimes intentionally

Other times unintentionally.

We build prison walls around us,

Lock ourselves away

Separating ourselves

Hide in bunkers

Refusing to talk, even a simply greeting.

Imprisonment

Walls

Bunkers

Deepen our pain

Precipitate wars,  

Ultimately, destruction –

Destruction of the self and the world.

I DREAM of a day of demolition –

Demolition of emotional walls

Demolition of social walls

Demolition of religious walls

Demolition of physical walls.

I DREAM of reunification, reunion, reconnection, reconciliation, and renewal – 

Renewal of broken friendships

Renewal of fragmented communities

Renewal of busted contracts

Renewal of broken-down marriages.

I DREAM of a day

When we face each other

And say, “I am hurting because we are disconnected. We have differences. Let’s learn to journey together despite our differences.”