I had a dream last night! I dreamt of kids having fun in the sun, playing in gyms,  gathering in each other’s rooms, and kids challenging each other to new heights on rock climbing walls. I had a dream last night… I dreamt of adults playing basketball having fun just like those kids; doing playground moves, making up games to include all skill leveled players; and making up plays to put all that they knew into motion. Then the dream shifted to nightfall. The kids weren’t in plain sight, but within peripherals. They were safe enough on the sidelines to not get get run over if us adults had to chase a ball out of bounds, but close within ear shot. I’m now having a bad dream, an aggressive dream, an intense, very real and symbolic dream! See, what was once all fun and games has now become dark and dangerous. Playground moves turned into tests of respect and challenges of manhood. Skills were now being used for survival of life and not to enhance a cohesive, fun experience. The ball turned into a tin can; the kind that gets kicked around and makes a lot of noise…but still gets kicked repeatedly! The court became a bobwired, fenced in war field; and we’re playing a game I was never very good at. But, somehow I’m the point guard on my team and the opponents don’t like me not one bit. I took hard fouls, trash talk, and personal threats until the game was over. As I’m trying to leave, I call out to my children sensing danger was near. The walk towards home turns into a frantic run for our lives. Feeling safe, I stop us for a head count. My youngest hadn’t kept up and was now in the grasp of the evils we ran from. I send the others on to safety with instructions to call for help and I got after my son. I break through glass doors, throw him over wired fences that rip his clothes. That same fence gets wrapped around my throat, but I break the chain with my bare hands. I’m running faster than ever holding his hand and now he’s keeping up with me. I even step in the face of a gun and shield him from whatever that bullet could have resulted in. I dreamt of doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to get back to a place where my kids can once again gather in rooms together and laugh. I dreamt of  doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to bring joy, cohesiveness, and creativity back to playgrounds. And I dreamt of doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to make men respect each other, to use each other’s skills to build the weak, teach, and to work together. They say life is but a dream… well this night… I had to dream FEARLESSLY!!!

E.N.T
Embrace Necessary Things