Last night I had a dream where I saw myself visiting my country of origin. In the dream, a lot of strange things happened (as they always do in dreams), but one thing in particular caught my attention: Towards the end of the dream I found my self surrounded by street vandals and being mugged.
They took my bike, they took my wallet, they took my phone; and I was left on my own in a city and country I no longer recognized.
I am familiar with that scene, because something similar happened to me a couple of times in my childhood. Back when I still lived there. It is a horrible feeling of helplessness; like nobody gives a damn about you and there is no sense of justice or law enforcement. Like you are alone in this world.
I've heard that things have gotten a lot worse there since I moved and I thank God it was just a dream. But it got me thinking about how lucky I am to now live in a place where I do not have to be living in fear and watching my back all the time. I often take it for granted, but today I was reminded of how thankful I am for being where I am.