I have a dream where the irony is not lost on people that on a day honoring Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of fighting for civil rights and equality for all, a man well known for supporting white supremacists and prioritizing his own self-interest is getting reinstalled as this country’s president.

I have a dream that we can get through the next four years as unscathed as possible.

I have a dream that there are people in the world who care more about the physical lives of hostages held captive for over 471 days than they do about their social lives on TikTok.

…an actual dream I had, last night:

I dreamed that I was volunteering in Israel to help with caring for rescued hostages. My particular job was to help tend to the rescued infants, some of whom were (in this dream — I can’t speak to whether this is realistic or not) babies who’d been conceived via terrorists raping hostages and birthed these in the terror tunnels where they were kept. In the dream, we were in the desert sheltered under a canopy, and the babies were all in little bassinets or seats lined up in a row. All were sleeping while I and another young woman watched over them. One infant started to fuss, and as I picked him up to comfort him, she made embittered comments about his paternity and general existence. As I continued to rock him in my arms, her expression turned horrified as she realized that what she was saying was harsh and cruel about an infant who was utterly not at fault for his or our circumstances. She was contrite, and we comforted the infant and each other in renewed understanding of what’s most important.

We need to be able to find a way forward, to forge a world where these children can coexist, regardless of their background or history or circumstances.

That was the thought I was left with when I awakened from this dream at about 2AM, prayers for the hostages still ricocheting in my heart like a drum solo that has been playing since October 7, 2023. Thousands of men, women, and children were slaughtered that day. Babies were beheaded in the Kfar Aza kibbutz. Hundreds of people were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists, and we have waited with bated breath for over a year to see their return. Some have returned, thankfully alive but of course forever changed. Others, we have been lucky to recover their bodies. For so many, we continue to wait, and hope.

We must have hope. We must. In his famous speech, King stated, “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” We must continue to dream that one day we will all live together in a world that is, “a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”

We wait. We hope. We dream.