The Great Wave

Last night I dreamed something terrible. I was with my family on a beach or playing in the water somewhere. Waves rolled in gradually, and my brother and I would go over them with trepidation yet also excitement. The waves kept on getting bigger, and after a few we decided to depart. Then I noticed a tremendous tsunami coming our way. There was no way we could outrun it, so we had to run into it. I held my brother in front of me, arms around his chest, as we ran into the wave. The undertow sucked us down and thrashed us about. When I emerged from the surface, I was no longer holding Josh. I saw my parents close by, my brother was nowhere to be found. The dream did not end there, but what followed is a blur.

As I recollect this dream, I remember it very differently. Somehow, as I attempt to reconstruct it, it seems like my parents were the ones lost to the wave, not my brother. I remember the shock of the unexpected turn of events, and not knowing how to proceed.

Distilling all this, I think the dream was a message about the nature of human mortality. Death can come unexpectedly to anyone. Therefore, we should engage those close to us with consideration and love, lest we be too self-involved to give heed to the people who really matter to us.