I had a dream last night.

I was in the downtown area of my hometown but it was also sort of somewhere else (you know how dreams are). It was my home but could’ve been any downtown in the world. It was in a parking lot at the foot of Main Street–a very busy pedestrian shopping and parking area. There was a long, oblong shaped waterway with concrete walls that divided the parking lot in two. There were cars parked on both sides of this waterway.

I was walking toward my car and I heard these loud noises that I didn’t recognize at first. So I ran up to the waterway and I looked and there were these baby whales swimming through the canal! And then after the baby whales passed by there were mama and papa whales. But they were literally the size of the waterway which was a long concrete structure that held water and only enough width for one adult whale to pass through with not much water on either side of it. They were just getting by in the structure. But even in their confinement they were so graceful.

The whales were making these noises and I thought ‘what beautiful magnificent creatures, communicating with each other.’ And some people were also looking and seeing how marvelous they were. But some were walking right by just going to their cars, like they couldn’t even see what was right in front of them. I ran over to my husband who was in a car close by and I practically yelled with excitement, ‘Did you see that? Did you at least hear that?’ Mama and baby whales just passed through the waterway!!! And they were very vocal! Almost screaming in their mammal way! It was spectacular!’ He looked at me distractedly, but also like I was crazy. ‘No, what are you talking about?’

He’d been busy with an errand or something in the car —one of life’s many distractions. he wasn’t the only one who didn’t see or hear the whales, even though they were so close and so loud. (And I’m somewhat deaf! But heard it loudly and clearly). Some people were watching them with me, in awe, others were close but couldn’t see or hear, and others walked right over the waterway without seeing them.

As the dream was fading It took me a minute to realize what was really happening and all was not as beautiful as I’d thought at first. There was one other man who looked concerned but that was it.

Sometimes we just can’t or won’t see what is happening right under our noses.

We all experience cognitive dissonance at times. What are you overlooking in your life, or the greater world at large? What are you misinterpreting or just not seeing as it actually is?