For some reason I am in Oprah's office. Oprah has decided to close shop. She is very grateful when I suggest that everybody pitch in to help her distribute the items that she is giving away. But she is also very sad and she recognizes that I empathize. This phase of Oprah's life is not only the end of Oprah's world, but also the end of mine and others as well.
After I walk through the offices, I meet a woman in the stairwell. I am now holding a baby and I feel very responsible for this baby. I don't know who this woman is who has befriended me, but something about her seems suspicious. Another woman grabs me to tell me something about this woman in relation to my three youngest children. I listen intently to the woman who grabbed me, when suddenly, before she can tell me anything, a shot rings out and the woman who befriended me, rifle in hand, shoots the woman who was about to tell me something about her.
My fears are confirmed. This woman is not only distrustful, but also evil. Now I'm running with the baby, and I eventually go home, thinking I will be safe there. But others with guns drive me and the baby out. We seek solace by traveling, but at some point I return home, hoping everything has returned to some form of normalcy. My home, however, is inhabited by several other people who tell me we must all leave now because the revolutionists are coming. I run outside. The people who have taken over my home hide behind the shed. The baby says, "I'm hungry." I didn't even know she could talk.
I feel fortunate that I must have given the baby to the group hiding behind the shed when one revolutionist rounds the corner of the house. I stand frozen in fear, not realizing that the sun is coming up and I am no longer in shadow. He or she points the gun at me and the dream ends.
###
Over my lifetime, I have had numerous dreams about the end of the world. I've also had numerous dreams about Oprah. I've been at Oprah's house, I've been in Oprah's office, and I've been at a party with Oprah – all in my dreams. In my end-of-the-world dreams, I am usually trying to help everyone escape disaster or I'm trying to give everybody hope. Not until this dream did I have Oprah and the end of the world in the same dream.
I had heard that Oprah was disappointed about her OWN network not doing as well as she expected. I remember thinking before I went to bed last night that if Oprah offered her network online or to cable subscribers who could afford only basic cable, she might find a much wider audience. So maybe in the dream where I'm helping her distribute items, what I'm actually helping her do is distribute her network across a much wider audience.
Closing shop and ending a world are related possibly because when Oprah ended her show, it ended an era of my life as well. My children grew up and moved out of the house during the Oprah years.
The baby might represent me and all the years I felt lost. I ran around aimlessly as I hoped to "find myself" and protect myself from distrustful demons. But rather than stand alone to fight the demons and get shot or killed in the process, I should probably have banded together with others who knew how to protect themselves from assailants and evil. And like the baby in the dream, I should have spoken out and said exactly what I really wanted to say.
So maybe it's time to get out from behind the shadow and stop using it as a cover. It's time to speak my mind without fear of getting shot for doing so.
Photo attribution:
| greginhollywood at http://flickr.com/photos/35735432@N07/5334041943 |
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