The Dream

 By Ahmad Itani

He walked along the shore with her, his beautiful wife. They talked and they laughed. He’d smile, she would smile back. Everything was perfect. He had money, he had fame, he had all he could ever ask for. But suddenly, she started crying…

                He took her hand, and stopped to sit down.

“Why are you crying?!”- He asked with surprise.

She sobbed, and she looked him in the face.

“Because I’m not real…” –She said

“Not real?” he smiled with relief.

“You’ve been reading a lot of philosophy, haven’t you? Of course you’re real! You’re right here, with me”- He smiled again.

“No I’m not… I’m in your head. I’m just a dream!” –She sobbed

“Oh come on! Is this another of your acting jokes? ”

“If you’re so convinced that this is real, then tell me, can you remember where you live?” – She asked.

He stopped to think for a moment, and he was surprised…he couldn’t remember!

She spoke again

“Can you remember what you’re famous for? Or how you got so rich? OR EVEN HOW WE MET?!” –She asked with an outburst of anger and tears.

He started to panic. Nothing seemed to make sense… He felt so real, so alive, so happy, but he can’t remember how…how it all came to be!

“You can’t remember, you forgot… you forgot the dream…” – Her voice began to echo away.

He closed his eyes and tried to hug her, but when he came to open them, she wasn’t there.

Suddenly, it began to rain. Not water, but shining dust fell from the sky. And the places from which the dust fell grew dark, as if pieces of the sky were falling.

“Try to remember, try to remember!” He panicked.

He tried to walk, but his legs felt hard… like walking through a heavy storm. He tried to run, but when he did, the ground shattered like glass below his feet!

Whenever he’d make a move, something would break. The moon turned into a large black dot in the sky. The sun on the opposite side blew up like a huge flaming ball of fire.

He tried to remember who he was, somehow it felt like it would fix everything.

He saw people on the streets, their faces looked familiar. He couldn’t move so he yelled for help, but no one would hear him. People walked by as if he wasn’t there. He saw his own beloved wife in the hands of someone else. He still couldn’t remember a thing…Someone…someone please help this poor man remember, so he could fix everything.

But this is where the story sadly ends. The world around him shattered like glass before his eyes. He was left there in the darkness…paralyzed on his knees…drowning is his own tears…

No.  This isn’t where the story ends… there is more to it than what was told. He wants to say something... This man forgot himself in his own dreams. Once, he dreamed for a purpose, he dreamed to help the world, he dreamed to be a good man. But his dreams took him way too far away. He stopped dreaming about doing good, and dreamt only about the glory that came with it. He forgot why he dreamed. His dreams became nothing but fantasies of glory and riches. And once your dreams become fantasies, they may never come true.

But there is still hope. This man doesn’t want to stay on his knees. His dream is still there, but his greed for glory keeps him paralyzed and blinded.  

You…

You who chose to read this to the very end. Whether you’re a man or a woman, this man has a message for you. When we dream too much, we forget how we got there in the first place…

You have dreams, but I have a question for you: Why do you dream?

Are your dreams filled with glory and large posters of your face? I’m sorry, but those aren’t dreams, those are just fantasies.

Being popular and having a good reputation are the best thing ever…but this isn’t the dream…

We’re here for a reason. We’re here to love, we’re here to help. We’re here because God said so.  We’re here to save the world.  And our visit here won’t last too long…we have so little time for too many dreams, yet too much time for just one.

Dream a lot, but dream for a purpose. Dream about how to get there, not about the glory you get when you get there.  But don't let your dreams turn to fantasies…just what are the odds of them coming true now that you’ve “predicted” what will happen at the end?

Maybe he couldn’t realize his dreams, maybe he shattered his own…but you just witnessed his downfall. Will you? Will you do what he did? Or will you save your dreams before it’s too late?