Rude Awakenings and Sweet Dreams

In the tabloid vein of strange human interest, here's a story I heard on Toronto's CFRB last night, courtesy of Jim Richards. It's the story of one Jan Grebski. Now about 19 years ago, during the height of Soviet influence, Mr Grebski fell into a coma. A railway worker from Dzialdowo, Grebski lapsed into unconsciousness during the summer of '88. Doctors predicted that he'd never recover, yet the plucky Pole surprised them, and recently rejoined the living once again.

Grebski had to be completely rehabilitated. He had to relearn how to walk and talk. Harder still, he had to readjust to life after communism. Since the state monolith loomed large in that society, this was no easy feat. Grebski was confronted by a brave new world of mobile telephones, reality television and the Internet. When his wife bought him a new shirt, he was astonished that the stores were opened on Sunday!

Still, it could've been worse. I keep imagining the scenario taking on a Kafkaesque twist. Imagine you're a Pole, who'd fallen asleep under Communism, and then awoke - bewildered - to have people tell you that the regime had fallen. His first response might've been that it was some trick, to test his party loyalty. His next response might've been paranoia.

He thinks that they've printed up a few phony magazines, and beamed in some western TV, in order to observe his reaction. If he seems a little too pleased, then it's off to the gulag. Gotcha! A typical party trick. The doctors keep insisting that it's a new world, but he decides that's only what they want him to think, and so becomes entrenched in his suspicion. The more they try to convince him, the more guarded he becomes. As loyal as any prisoner, he'd resolve not to crack. In the end, the only options would be a life of schizophrenia, or put him back to sleep.

The whole thing reminds me of another story I heard, this one about a sleep walking English woman. Seems that one night, she'd wandered away from her home. She made her way to a construction site, up a crane, across a high beam, and unto a platform suspended some 100 feet in the air. Bystanders spotted her, and alerted the authorities. Thanks God they didn't shout "Wake Up", especially as she walked the high beam. A sleepwalker can do it, but awakened half way across, she might well have fallen to her death.

It was the Buddha who told us to awaken, but the book of Ecclesiastes which wisely reminded us that there is a time and a place for everything. So until that time and place, dream on!

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