Hopes Crushed / Tall Trees

Tuesday night

Dream 1: Hopes Crushed

The media and the public had found out, after the fact, that Senator Obama, who had been on the cusp of victory in the Iowa caucuses, had walked to the edge of a forest overlooking the ocean, and hanged himself. He had been depressed, but few people knew it. Thankfully, there were no pictures of the event, but we all saw the site afterward, and there was a shared sense of sadness and tragedy. Senator Clinton's major roadblock to the presidential nomination was out of the way, and there was some question about how she would, or should react.

Dream 2: Tall Trees

I had walked into someone's very large yard to see two gigantic Christmas trees that they had recently installed, one next to the other. A few strands of lights had been strung on them, but it was daytime, so they were not lit. I noticed that some huge branches near the top of one of the trees had been sawed off in order to ease the process of getting it out of the forest, so it had a strange appearance; just a bunch of ugly tree limb stubs coming out from the trunk. I wanted a closer look at how the trees were able to stand on the lawn, without toppling over. They were so tall that I was able to walk around the base of each, in the space between the ground and the lowest branches. Some large logs were propped against their trunks, to hold them in place.

*****

Dream 1: Hopes Crushed

I saw a commercial for depression medicine on TV last night (the one about how it effects the whole family), and I have the new TIME magazine on my bedside table, featuring a cover story on Obama. I am getting caught up in the possibility that he might win in Iowa, and I'm getting excited about it, but I'm also worried about what his success might mean in regard to his personal safety. I'm not concerned that something might happen to him at his own hand, but rather, from the hand of some prejudiced jerk out there somewhere.

This dream seems to re-live the situation in 1968, just after RFK won the California primary. Hopes were dashed, and suddenly Humphrey's (and Nixon's) chief rival was gone. How would they react? How should they? I'm grateful that I wasn't old enough in the 1960s to grasp what was going on.

I hope I don't have another dream like this one for a long time.

Dream 2: Tall Trees

It's been a rough patch at work lately -- just a lot of complications and responsibilities, tied in with the holidays. I came in on Saturday to get some stuff done, and actually got sick from the pressure. I can't remember that happening to me before. I talked to my twin brother, and he said it's happened to him on occasion, because he internalizes stress. So, I think that the Christmas trees with the limbs lopped off signify that I'm trying to get in the spirit of the season, but I'm not in full "joy" mode yet; there's too much responsibility, too much on my mind. My Christmas spirit has a few of the branches lopped off right now.