The Dream I had

The Dream I Had

I had a dream where I envisioned a world filled with love not hate.

In the dream there were rainbows. Not just in the sky after the rain. Rainbows in people. In how we lived. In how we looked at each other.

It was a beautiful place. There were just people. No hate among these people.

Two men could embrace and nobody turned their head. Nobody quoted a verse. Nobody whispered. They were just two people who found each other and that was enough.

A Black girl or a mixed girl was not judged because of hair texture. No one touched her curls without asking. No one told her to tame it for the job. No one said “we do not shoot that” because her hair was not straight. She was just seen. Her beauty was not a debate.

There were people of all races living in harmony. Not tolerating. Not pretending. Living. At the same table. In the same studio. On the same set. No one asked me to pick a side. No one put me in a box because I am well proportioned and plus size and Black and educated and 51.

I was not forced to let religion divide.

In the dream there were people of every religion living without fear. Not being forced to divide by a Bible verse. Not being handed hate with a scripture number attached. You could pray, or not pray, and still break bread. You could believe, or question, and still be safe.

Nobody used God as a reason to make someone small.

That is the world I saw. And when I woke up, I missed it.

Because I know the other world. I know Groups where people hid behind fake names and judged. I know photographers who used religion like a lens cap, keeping out anyone who did not look like their idea of clean. I know family trees I had to cut off at 51 because hate lived in the roots.

I know what it is to be judged before I open my mouth. Before I hit my mark. Before I finish my sentence.

That is why the dream stayed with me.

That is why I love being an author. That is why education matters. That is why growing matters. Because words build worlds. And if I can write a book that tells the complete story, maybe someone reads it and starts to see that dream too.

I am Ph.D. Candidate, June 2026. I study people. I study systems. I study how we get from here to there. And the answer is never hate. The answer is never a verse used like a weapon. The answer is never easy, but it is simple.

See people.

That is it.

In my dream, we did.

A world with love not hate.

Rainbows without a fight.

People without permission.

No division. No fear. No forced silence.

Just us.

Cathryn M. Murray Harris‍ ‍

51. Dreamer. Author. Still well proportioned. Still believing.