I had a dream last night. It was very real and vivid, and unlike most of my dreams, I remembered it clearly when I woke up.
I dreamed my community was being attacked, but not with guns or bombs...just attacked. A man I was very afraid of dropped from the sky, but I thought, "It's OK, because the fall will kill him." He fell through the roof, but he did not die. He came to me and asked me to help him and his people, who, I realized, were everywhere in my neighborhood, and they had some dogs with them. They wanted to move into our community and live there. I told him that he and his friends would have to work for their keep, which he said was fine.
I dreamed I went door to door in my neighborhood and found work for them and homes for them and their dogs. The "dangerous" man stayed with us, and so did two dogs: an older one and a young puppy. (I have two miniature poodles, but these were some kind of mixed breed.)
It turned out that all these people were each good at something, and their services were useful. They could build houses and make things, care for people who needed caring for, manage things and clean up. They could solve problems we had found no solutions to. They made our lives better. I found myself becoming fond of them. My neighbors became fond of them, too.
Then one day, they said they were all leaving. We didn't want to see them go, but wished them well and made sure they knew they could return any time. They took their dogs with them when they left, even the little puppy. I didn't see them leave; they were just gone.
I woke up with a good feeling, wondering who these people might be who could fall from the sky, through the roof and into my house without hurting themselves, who asked for our help and yet helped us more than we helped them.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this question today. I think it's possible these people might have represented angels (for want of a better term) who had a lesson to impart. That lesson might be this: Sometimes we are afraid of people who are strangers in our neighborhood and who are different from us. We assume they are going to harm us or be a drain on our resources. We fear that they will change things in a way we don't like. When they ask for our help, we can either help them or not, but if we do, we find that they are likeable and that they make our lives better.
Why the dogs? I don't know, but I'm a dog person, and maybe it was a way of making a connection with me.
Something to think about.
