Dear Son,

In a dream last night, I saw a young man struggling mightily to stay afloat as he was swept along in a fast-flowing white-water river that he had fallen into. I saw people trying to help him get to the river bank. They were trying to keep up with him by running along the river bank, and some of them were able to get close enough occasionally, to throw a rope or a life-preserver to the young man, but whenever any of these got within the young man's reach, he just threw it back on the river bank, or ignored it.

Sometimes, when the ropes or life-preservers got close to him, he would scornfully throw them back at the people who were trying to connect with him, shouting, "I am vastly superior to any of you. You are puny, ordinary people. I am enjoying life much more than any of you. What are you trying to save me from? What I am doing is much more fun than what you are doing. I should be trying to save you!"

But the people on the river bank could see that the young man was in serious trouble, that he was being worn down and that he was on the brink of drowning. When his feeling of superiority wore off, and he was worn down, and when the ropes or life-preservers got close to him he would moan and say, "I am not worth saving. Let me die." He would just ignore the ropes and life-preservers that were within his grasp, and sink beneath the surface for a period of time, but eventually he would resurface and resume this incomprehensible cycle.

Nobody could understand. Eventually most of the people who were running so long and so hard, trying to keep up with the young man so they could give him help, got too tired to persist. They dropped to the ground, panting, and gave up as the young man continued being carried downstream and out of sight by the river.

Love, Dad