The dream was simple. I was washing dishes. Nothing magical, woo, or otherworldly was going on. Just me and the dishes. Once I finished the dishes, I would be able to go do fun things. (Not enough bubbles in the sink to make doing the dishes, “fun”.)
Except the dishes were never done. I was at a normal house sink, with a normal amount of dish water, but after washing the same pan for the third time, I realized something very important.
These weren’t my dishes I was washing.
I was cleaning up someone else’s mess, and that someone else was taking the clean dishes, using them, then dumping them back into the sink after. Could have been more than one person, as the return rate was pretty damn fast.
I dropped what I had back into the sink and rinsed my hands. As I turned to dry them, the someone else whose dishes I had been washing came back with more. They immediately began berating me for abandoning my duty and reminded me I could only have personal time once I was done with the dishes.
I asked that person when were they going to accept responsibility for their own mess.
“Why should I? That’s what you are here for. So get back to work. I have stuff to do and I need clean dishes.”
I folded the kitchen towel neatly on the counter and walked out of the kitchen without speaking a word to them. As I left the kitchen, the dream faded and ended.
As an allegory it speaks loudly.