LIVE & LET LIVE

LIVE & LET LIVE:

A REVEALING SNAKE DREAM During a Time of War

By Roger A. “Pete” Petereson

I had this dream in 2002 right after a major clash between the Israelis and Palestinians.

It is a large undeveloped rural area with few houses, large fields, and woods in all directions.

As I walk from the house to the old, full-sized pickup truck in the driveway, I think about the coming land development changes with loss and sadness. Most of the land surrounding my home has been sold to a developer with ambitious plans. His vision includes thousands of new homes with industry to support the community. Feeling the stone and gravel in the driveway shift and crunch under my boots, I reach for the door handle of the beat-up old truck. When it’s open, I automatically step up and swing in behind the steering wheel.

The evening light is dimming as I start the truck and turn onto the narrow county road. Suddenly a familiar rattling sound disturbs my thoughts. It’s coming from the floor near my right foot. As soon as I hear it, I know it is. It’s the sound a rattlesnake makes before it strikes. When I spot it, I automatically raise my right foot and smash it down on the head of the snake again and again until it lies dead at my feet.

A feeling of relief washes over me but before it can completely dissipates, another snake rattles its angry warning at me, and then another, and another. Suddenly I’m fighting for my life with both legs alternately rising and falling with all of my strength to crush the deadly invasion. How can this be, the harder I fight, the more snakes there are to fight back? Soon, there are far too many in number for me to defeat and they begin to overwhelm my defenses. First one, and then another snake strikes and sinks venom into the calves of my legs. I fight back even more ferociously for a moment until I realize that the harder I fight, the more snakes there are to deal with. Now they’re even on the seat beside me angrily attacking me.

Knowing I will probably die from this many rattlesnake bites, I begin to wonder about my situation. What does it mean? When I heard the first rattlesnake why didn’t I stop the truck, slowly get out and let it go in peace? Wouldn’t it have been logical to think the snake would leave once it recognized the space beneath my truck seat was not a good place to live? I didn’t do that though. Instead, I reacted with fear and a sense of ownership. The snake had invaded my space and was going to fight me for it. I can’t have that; this space is mine! As a result of this unreasonable reasoning, I fought back with all my might, killing the invader.

Sitting quietly now, my resistance stilled. I begin to see life from the snake’s perspective. We, mankind, have been invading and taking the snake’s homeland for eons. In our pursuit of new territory and ownership we have invaded the homeland of countless other species to claim it as our own. We don’t ask permission, we’re not willing to share – we just take it and drive who or whatever lives there out! What right do we have to do that? Doesn’t every living thing have a right to life and being?

Overcome with the enormity of our transgression my heart goes out to the snakes and all the other creatures affected by our thoughtless, self-centered behavior. As the feeling of sorrow and understanding washes over me the snakes begin to disappear as mysteriously as they appeared, until there is only one snake left in the truck. Somehow, I know it’s the first one I killed. It’s alive and fully intact as it lies on the seat with its head across my lap. Gently, I stroke it with the back of my hand. In my newfound love and understanding, we are all healed and we are all friends.