Getting ready for the super bowl and anticipating the game, the plays, the food and the commercials is a fun way to bring in the first week of February. I had been surfing the web researching everything super bowl – the stats on each team, the latest Las Vegas odds, the best recipe for sausage rolls, even fun facts about the host city of Indianapolis, especially the museum and monuments dedicated to the tragic story of the USS Indianapolis – when I had fallen asleep in my comfy recliner with my laptop going into sleep mode.
In my slumber I had a dream. Now most of my dreams bend and twist reality and rational thought to a point where the memory of them seem nonsensical, but I want to try and piece together the dream I dreamed this night and ask you forgive the nonsensical parts with the knowledge it was just a dream, but one I felt compelled to share with whoever would listen.
I see the young men suited up and on the field, well prepared and ready for battle, warming up their bodies for the ultimate contest of the season. The stadium is alive with thousands of fans anticipating the game and making small talk. Then everyone is still and silent while Kelly Clarkson sings our national anthem. When she gets to the part about the bombs bursting in air, the scene suddenly changes to a torpedo blowing up the USS Indianapolis. Down goes Brady, no not Brady, but Bradley. Manning is in trouble, no not Manning, but Mann and many others, all in serious trouble.
Sailors are floating in the water now. No ship, no stadium, no fans, no help. The scene suddenly changes again to Las Vegas where The Patriots and Giants have somehow merged into one team and now the odd makers are betting on the future of our country. The odds are against us and I hear them say, “They won’t remember the price of freedom.”
I shout at them, “See the sailors in the sea!” Then the scene changes suddenly again to a monument listing the crew of the USS Indianapolis. Las Vegas by a lot of the names, no, just LAS, Lost At Sea, is what it means.
I’m back at the game and everyone is having a good time. I hear someone utter between gulps of beer, “This country is going down the toilet” to which I reply, “No way, we’re gonna turn it around” and I hope we do.