This morning I woke up after having a crazy dream. In the dream, I was with a delegation of what I believe were politicians and businessmen to a foreign location. We were in a big city where there were many large buildings and the time period seemed to be in the future because everything seemed a little more modern. We were at some clean and modern restaurants in the large buildings. I remember entering a restroom and one of the toilets was overflowing. Weird.
In another part of my dream, I was in a war. People were dying everywhere. I saw guys get shot in front of me. I believe I was in an all Japanese American military unit. I remember in one scene, many of us were captured as prisoners. There were many young men and boys all dressed in prisoner clothes that reminded me of the undergarb of the samurai uniform. Some of the boys looked like they were of elementary school age. Everyone was sitting Japanese style and looked very stoic with no emotion. In front of every boy and man were three metal rods. Two of the rods had a very sharp pointed tip. I couldn't figure what they were for? When the time came, a boy would carry the sharp metal rods and walk off. My cousin D and I walked to the area where we were supposed to go. D went first. There was a wall dividing us. I heard him say that there is so much blood. I heard painful noises and some crying. After it was done, a Caucasion man came out with a bloodied meat cutting scissors. He said something to me and sounded as if he didn't like what he was doing. It was now my turn. Apparently, the two sharp metal rods were stabbed into all the boys' and men's backs by the shoulder blades and torn downwards. The scissors are used to cut the boys and men up further. As prisoners of war, we were going through an immensely painful slow death.
I don't know why, but the first thing that came to my mind when I woke up was that I was afraid of my goals for peace. I fear something bad could happen if I pursue this further.
JON RIKI KARAMATSU 