This is where it started... we all found out that our government was no more. The government of the United States of America was gone, completely gone. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the world's oldest constitutional government had finally gone the way of so many other regimes before it.
But that was merely how the dreams began. It wouldn't be until 10 hours later that the dreams would end. And when they did, they ended with a whisper of a thought; the words seemed to come to me that the four horsemen of the Biblical apocalypse had not even begun to run.
On the evening of February 2, 2005, I drove home from work as I would do every night, but this night, on the radio in my car and later on the TV in my house, I couldn't escape one particular event, the Presidential State of the Union address.
I've never liked them. Chalk it up to being a child of the cold war era but I've always thought getting all three branches of the federal government together at one time is a bad idea. I know the Constitution requires the President to give the State of the Union, but do they all have to meet together in one place? The State of the Union address is the one predictable time when all 3 branches of our federal government are together in one location. It seems to me the State of the Union event is the perfect time for the government to be attacked and wiped out. I've always worried over that. So, I don't like the State of the Union addresses and usually don't listen to or watch them.
This night was no different. While driving home I changed the radio to FM and listened to music. When I reached home I turned on the TV and scanned the channels not finding anything worth watching so I turned it off.
That was the background and context for what was about to begin.
On this night I was feeling a little off so I went to bed early, about 8:00 PM. During the next 10 hours I had the strangest dreams of my life. Throughout the night I would periodically get up, walk around the house, perhaps drink a little water all in hope of shaking it off. However, when I would go back to sleep the events would resume where they left off, just like a new episode, all night. On this night, there were four episodes, each lasting about 2 or 3 hours. Weird, huh?
Something else weird about this all-nighter was although the first dream began in my own neighborhood and city, I was not a participant in its events, nor were any of my loved ones. In fact, I could not say I actually remember any person I know being involved at any time, yet I was viewing it all like a fly on the wall...
In the first episode, the government was gone. That's all I know. No one could determine what had happened to make this so. There was no good information coming out as to what had occurred.
In my neighborhood in San Francisco, people who have been neighbors for years and who rarely ever took the time to talk to each other, came out on the street to talk to each on this day. Everyone was milling around trying to determine if anyone else knew what had happened. No one did. The thing that stands out in my memory about this was how incredulous everyone was. The "mightiest" government in the world was now suddenly gone. No one believed it. Everyone was full of awe and astonishment. How something as extensive, pervasive and powerful as the US government could be gone in a day! But that was just the beginning.
It was at that point when things started spinning apart. At first there were groups of people looting shops in the downtown area of the city. Very soon there were riots and the downtown area began to burn. From my block in the Twin Peaks area of San Francisco you could see rising over the hill to the East, a pillar of smoke slowly growing and increasing in size and density. The public servants, the police and firefighters were overwhelmed by the size of the problem. No one could have realized how bad it was about to get...
I can't tell you if what happened next was on the same day, or even days later, but it was later... Gangs of all kinds started taking advantage of the chaos and the fact that the authorities were overwhelmed. They began moving into the residential neighborhoods to pillage. Once the realization settled in just how out of control the chaos in the downtown area was, and when word began arriving that the residential areas were now being attacked, the fire and police forces melted away like ice in the heat of day. Each went to their own home to protect their family and possessions.
The gangs were going door to door, methodically it seemed. They pulled up on my street at one end and made their way into a house. Once they were through there, they moved onto the next domicile. If they encountered resistance, they were able to overcome it and get into the house. People were being pulled from their homes and killed on the spot or raped and taken captive. Groups of young men whose allegiance to the good of society was zero became the de facto rulers of the city's streets. On one occasion on my block they burned the house because they were unable to get the people out. Many fires just like this were springing up around the city and smoke was now billowing up from all directions.
The gangs occasionally broke from this activity to fight with each other. The streets of the city's suburbs rang with the sounds of gunfire and chaos.
People who were not as yet being affected by these events began abandoning their homes to avoid the seeming inevitable. In this way the population of San Francisco was being uprooted from their homes.
This part of my night visions seemed to drag on and on and on, neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. It was the day of, the dawn of, and the night of the living dead all wrapped in one epitome of horror. It seemed as if it would go on forever, and I knew the phenomenon I witnessed was also being played out in all of America’s big cities.
Then I woke up.
I walked around the house. I tried to make myself cold so as to wake myself from sleep. But as soon as I lay back down, I fell asleep and the next episode began.
America's chaos did not discourage people from coming here. The armies of the nations of the world began to arrive on America's shores in order to claim their portion. There were so many nations represented I cannot remember them all, but I remember troops from Russia, Spain, France, Mexico and China, to name a few. These continued the earlier destroying and pillaging on a grander scale. I never saw these armed forces come into conflict with each other, however. Could it be the regions of the country had been parceled out among them? The Chinese forces seemed to focus on the big ciites. I could not tell why. I also saw innumerable small craft arriving on the beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. Boats from tiny far off countries were arriving. Out of a boat would come a group of men, perhaps as small a group as a half dozen, but they were all armed and ready to party on American soil.
Little of what I saw seemed to concern the rural parts of the country, except in this episode. I remember the sight of many destitute individuals wandering the open spaces in the countryside. Forced out of their homes by the necessities of daily life, they now itinerated as beggars and foragers looking for what they needed. On one occasion I saw a woman walking out in the open alone in the daytime, something no one would do except in extreme need. The woman seemed to be carrying something, I couldn't tell but I thought it might be a child. Certainly she had seen the armoured vehicle in the distance across the open field, but she seemed so intent on her mission she was risking it all. A soldier in the armored vehicle took aim, he focused her far-off form in his gun sight and with a single shot her silhouette dropped lifeless on the horizon. The soldier and his comrades had a good laugh.
What America had successfully avoided for generations, armed invasion, was now underway in earnest.
When I awoke I made a concerted effort to shake it off. I drank some water, walked around and even clicked on the TV for a bit. I splashed some cold water on my face. Nevertheless, when I laid my head on the pillow, the dream resumed where it had left off...
Muslim extremists began destroying the symbols of America's success, its sky-scrapers. Throughout the day, the denizens of America's now desolated cities could hear from afar the dull explosions of the detonations, followed by the roar of each building's collapse. No one went to see what was going on, everyone knew and no one could stop it. All were forced by the necessities of survival to focus on one thing and one thing only with their waking hours, self-preservation. So, for those living in or around the environs of the city, their days were punctuated by the ominous sounds of demolition, the demolition of the hallmarks of American achievement and the success of generations. Piece by piece the legacy of the city, its skyline, was being denuded.
This time when I awoke I made a half-hearted attempt to awaken myself, being convinced when I next laid my head on the pillow the visions would resume. They did.
The fourth installment in my series of dreams was the last. It’s the easiest of the episodes to describe as well. At some point after the cities of the United States were in ruins, a decision was made from across the planet. A decision was made by the rulers of China. Their conclusion was this: even though it did not now seem possible the Americans would ever recover from their plight, there nevertheless would always be the chance they may. ICBMs were launched against America's major cities in order to level them to the ground and to make them uninhabitable wastelands.
And so it was done.
Before I awoke, while I lay in bed, semi-asleep, I was left with one concluding sensation; it was a thought which seemed to signal that the dreams of the night were indeed over. As I lay there in bed I was left with the thought that even after what I had witnessed the four horsemen of the Biblical apocalypse had not yet begun to run.
When I awoke at 6:00 AM I felt strangely invigorated and refreshed and got ready for work.
I am not offering this as a prediction of things to come. I am only offering it as one individual's extraordinary experience for the reader to ponder.
Epilog: I had this dream 7 months ago. I wrote it down at that time and initially shared it with a few people but I immediately stopped doing so. My thinking at the time was I did not wish to unecessarily impart fear into anyone's life. However, after the Katrina disaster and witnessing the subsequent civil disorder and collapse of civil services in the city of New Orleans, I decided to come forward with this story. Perhaps we need to realize the possibility we face of being the generation that loses it all. Perhaps its not too late for us and we can yet seek mercy and help from our creator so we can find the grace we need to change and to pull together as a society. Perhaps we need to so treasure what we have and to do whatever we can to insure that events such as those outlined in the narrative above, could never happen here!
But that was merely how the dreams began. It wouldn't be until 10 hours later that the dreams would end. And when they did, they ended with a whisper of a thought; the words seemed to come to me that the four horsemen of the Biblical apocalypse had not even begun to run.
On the evening of February 2, 2005, I drove home from work as I would do every night, but this night, on the radio in my car and later on the TV in my house, I couldn't escape one particular event, the Presidential State of the Union address.
I've never liked them. Chalk it up to being a child of the cold war era but I've always thought getting all three branches of the federal government together at one time is a bad idea. I know the Constitution requires the President to give the State of the Union, but do they all have to meet together in one place? The State of the Union address is the one predictable time when all 3 branches of our federal government are together in one location. It seems to me the State of the Union event is the perfect time for the government to be attacked and wiped out. I've always worried over that. So, I don't like the State of the Union addresses and usually don't listen to or watch them.
This night was no different. While driving home I changed the radio to FM and listened to music. When I reached home I turned on the TV and scanned the channels not finding anything worth watching so I turned it off.
That was the background and context for what was about to begin.
On this night I was feeling a little off so I went to bed early, about 8:00 PM. During the next 10 hours I had the strangest dreams of my life. Throughout the night I would periodically get up, walk around the house, perhaps drink a little water all in hope of shaking it off. However, when I would go back to sleep the events would resume where they left off, just like a new episode, all night. On this night, there were four episodes, each lasting about 2 or 3 hours. Weird, huh?
Something else weird about this all-nighter was although the first dream began in my own neighborhood and city, I was not a participant in its events, nor were any of my loved ones. In fact, I could not say I actually remember any person I know being involved at any time, yet I was viewing it all like a fly on the wall...
In the first episode, the government was gone. That's all I know. No one could determine what had happened to make this so. There was no good information coming out as to what had occurred.
In my neighborhood in San Francisco, people who have been neighbors for years and who rarely ever took the time to talk to each other, came out on the street to talk to each on this day. Everyone was milling around trying to determine if anyone else knew what had happened. No one did. The thing that stands out in my memory about this was how incredulous everyone was. The "mightiest" government in the world was now suddenly gone. No one believed it. Everyone was full of awe and astonishment. How something as extensive, pervasive and powerful as the US government could be gone in a day! But that was just the beginning.
It was at that point when things started spinning apart. At first there were groups of people looting shops in the downtown area of the city. Very soon there were riots and the downtown area began to burn. From my block in the Twin Peaks area of San Francisco you could see rising over the hill to the East, a pillar of smoke slowly growing and increasing in size and density. The public servants, the police and firefighters were overwhelmed by the size of the problem. No one could have realized how bad it was about to get...
I can't tell you if what happened next was on the same day, or even days later, but it was later... Gangs of all kinds started taking advantage of the chaos and the fact that the authorities were overwhelmed. They began moving into the residential neighborhoods to pillage. Once the realization settled in just how out of control the chaos in the downtown area was, and when word began arriving that the residential areas were now being attacked, the fire and police forces melted away like ice in the heat of day. Each went to their own home to protect their family and possessions.
The gangs were going door to door, methodically it seemed. They pulled up on my street at one end and made their way into a house. Once they were through there, they moved onto the next domicile. If they encountered resistance, they were able to overcome it and get into the house. People were being pulled from their homes and killed on the spot or raped and taken captive. Groups of young men whose allegiance to the good of society was zero became the de facto rulers of the city's streets. On one occasion on my block they burned the house because they were unable to get the people out. Many fires just like this were springing up around the city and smoke was now billowing up from all directions.
The gangs occasionally broke from this activity to fight with each other. The streets of the city's suburbs rang with the sounds of gunfire and chaos.
People who were not as yet being affected by these events began abandoning their homes to avoid the seeming inevitable. In this way the population of San Francisco was being uprooted from their homes.
This part of my night visions seemed to drag on and on and on, neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. It was the day of, the dawn of, and the night of the living dead all wrapped in one epitome of horror. It seemed as if it would go on forever, and I knew the phenomenon I witnessed was also being played out in all of America’s big cities.
Then I woke up.
I walked around the house. I tried to make myself cold so as to wake myself from sleep. But as soon as I lay back down, I fell asleep and the next episode began.
America's chaos did not discourage people from coming here. The armies of the nations of the world began to arrive on America's shores in order to claim their portion. There were so many nations represented I cannot remember them all, but I remember troops from Russia, Spain, France, Mexico and China, to name a few. These continued the earlier destroying and pillaging on a grander scale. I never saw these armed forces come into conflict with each other, however. Could it be the regions of the country had been parceled out among them? The Chinese forces seemed to focus on the big ciites. I could not tell why. I also saw innumerable small craft arriving on the beaches along the Gulf of Mexico. Boats from tiny far off countries were arriving. Out of a boat would come a group of men, perhaps as small a group as a half dozen, but they were all armed and ready to party on American soil.
Little of what I saw seemed to concern the rural parts of the country, except in this episode. I remember the sight of many destitute individuals wandering the open spaces in the countryside. Forced out of their homes by the necessities of daily life, they now itinerated as beggars and foragers looking for what they needed. On one occasion I saw a woman walking out in the open alone in the daytime, something no one would do except in extreme need. The woman seemed to be carrying something, I couldn't tell but I thought it might be a child. Certainly she had seen the armoured vehicle in the distance across the open field, but she seemed so intent on her mission she was risking it all. A soldier in the armored vehicle took aim, he focused her far-off form in his gun sight and with a single shot her silhouette dropped lifeless on the horizon. The soldier and his comrades had a good laugh.
What America had successfully avoided for generations, armed invasion, was now underway in earnest.
When I awoke I made a concerted effort to shake it off. I drank some water, walked around and even clicked on the TV for a bit. I splashed some cold water on my face. Nevertheless, when I laid my head on the pillow, the dream resumed where it had left off...
Muslim extremists began destroying the symbols of America's success, its sky-scrapers. Throughout the day, the denizens of America's now desolated cities could hear from afar the dull explosions of the detonations, followed by the roar of each building's collapse. No one went to see what was going on, everyone knew and no one could stop it. All were forced by the necessities of survival to focus on one thing and one thing only with their waking hours, self-preservation. So, for those living in or around the environs of the city, their days were punctuated by the ominous sounds of demolition, the demolition of the hallmarks of American achievement and the success of generations. Piece by piece the legacy of the city, its skyline, was being denuded.
This time when I awoke I made a half-hearted attempt to awaken myself, being convinced when I next laid my head on the pillow the visions would resume. They did.
The fourth installment in my series of dreams was the last. It’s the easiest of the episodes to describe as well. At some point after the cities of the United States were in ruins, a decision was made from across the planet. A decision was made by the rulers of China. Their conclusion was this: even though it did not now seem possible the Americans would ever recover from their plight, there nevertheless would always be the chance they may. ICBMs were launched against America's major cities in order to level them to the ground and to make them uninhabitable wastelands.
And so it was done.
Before I awoke, while I lay in bed, semi-asleep, I was left with one concluding sensation; it was a thought which seemed to signal that the dreams of the night were indeed over. As I lay there in bed I was left with the thought that even after what I had witnessed the four horsemen of the Biblical apocalypse had not yet begun to run.
When I awoke at 6:00 AM I felt strangely invigorated and refreshed and got ready for work.
I am not offering this as a prediction of things to come. I am only offering it as one individual's extraordinary experience for the reader to ponder.
Epilog: I had this dream 7 months ago. I wrote it down at that time and initially shared it with a few people but I immediately stopped doing so. My thinking at the time was I did not wish to unecessarily impart fear into anyone's life. However, after the Katrina disaster and witnessing the subsequent civil disorder and collapse of civil services in the city of New Orleans, I decided to come forward with this story. Perhaps we need to realize the possibility we face of being the generation that loses it all. Perhaps its not too late for us and we can yet seek mercy and help from our creator so we can find the grace we need to change and to pull together as a society. Perhaps we need to so treasure what we have and to do whatever we can to insure that events such as those outlined in the narrative above, could never happen here!
