Most of us have recurring elements of a dream most nights. For me, I dreamed about Walt Disney World, my family, churches with organs pipe and electronic, cruises, mountainous places, Howard Goodall, and even the Ad Council. My grandmother speculates that they recur in my dreams because I fantasise too much, but that’s not always the case – my autistic trait of having narrow interests, reading and watching on screened media about a great deal of them, and remembering past vacations cause them to reappear from time to time. Recent news has it that I found a novel element of my dream – a reference to the current swine flu epidemic.

Neither I nor people I personally know have the Type A Influenza virus, nor have dreamed about its affected people, deceased or living. With 159 suspected deaths in originating Mexico and 1 death here in my native United States the swine flu continues to affect our various ways of life, not just in personal and public hygiene. It affected me too, since I had recent dreams in two consecutive days about references to the viral illness.

In the first dream, I was in Blizzard Beach at Walt Disney World, although it looked different from the real venue. I did a musical number in Tike’s Peak, with a few kids and Disney Characters (To the best of my memory, Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Goofy Goof were present.) and me, wearing an Ariel-like mermaid tail. The fun stopped when the parents, aunts, and uncles told me that I had to go home, not only the other side of the imaginary version of this Disney water park was too far that it would close down, but it was to be quarantined due to the swine flu virus outbreak. The adults and I walked to the other side in a very long footpath, despite warnings of park closing and the deadly influenza, and then an eclipse darkened the sky, prompting a message from the intercom advising us to remain indoors and do some quiet time until the sky turns blue and sunny again. The PA convinced us to think of it as if we were celebrating the birth of Christ, although the holiday associated with it, Christmas, occurs actually around 240 days after the night of this dream. We went to a barn and found barnyard animals surrounding Jesus, asleep on the hay, I was about to sleep, but I woke up.

The second dream further realized the strong reference to the virus outbreak. I was in my former home in Riverview, Florida, watching TV from my grandmother’s bedroom. I saw a public service announcement which started with a set of double doors closing, with the word SOIL in white boldfaced lettering if front of it. The voice-over detailed the symptoms of swine flu and its preventive measures as the white text displayed statistics on the doors in a dim room with shades of magenta and purple. The ad proceeded to display white-lettered text of information, along with the white Ad Council logo. The ad ended with 3-D lettering of a particular victim who succumbed to the disease. I went to the bathroom just to brush my teeth and the doors closed on me and that ad played again, with me seeing it outside television. Afterwards, I woke up.

Of the two dreams I had in the recent two consecutive days, the latter better referenced the swine flu epidemic. Maybe in each consecutive night, I’ll dream of another reference, maybe even dream of actual people afflicted by the virus. In the near future, I can refer my dream ad to the Ad Council and revamp the idea of a swine flu awareness ad Maybe someday I’ll even have a nightmare about it, but to me it’s a wait-and-see approach…

Promoting the demise of any hate speech is a worthwhile cause. Respect for our neighbors, whether next door, or in another state, can only be a good thing. We need not make fun of gay people, people of a certain color, people of faith, anyone. Destructive words only hurt and tear down.

Ms. Duff rightfully speaks against hate speech in this ad. But is it helpful?

This campaign from the Ad Council goes about sharing the love by creating more hate. Ms. Duff makes fun of the teenage girl and her ability to shop in order to make her point.

Perhaps it was an oversight by the producers of this commercial. We all make mistakes, right? No big deal. The important thing is that we speak out against hate speech of all kinds.

But was it an inadvertent omission?

Check out the same ad campaign featuring Wanda Sykes:

This commercial makes fun of 16 year old boys with cheesy mustaches. Sorry, but there are a lot of 16 year old boys with cheesy mustaches out there. Why should we step all over them in order to protect another group? Sixteen year old boys with cheesy mustaches didn’t choose to be that way. Watch out, there will soon be a new lobbyist group supporting the human rights of 16 year old boys with cheesy mustaches.

Hey, I used to be one of those! I’m hurt. I’m offended! Show me some love by putting down eight year old brown-haired girls who were born in southern California in the month of May only to move to Maine due to their accountant mother’s job change that upgraded her salary to six figures – but only that sub-group who ended up paying higher taxes because of a higher home value due to its proximity to mom and pop lobster restaurants.

Yep, maybe we can pick on those people because I have three boys and the oldest turns 16 next week! I don’t want their self-image to be harmed.

The better approach is to build each other up with our speech. All people. Everyone who lives and breathes. Every single one of your neighbors. Whether you like them or not. Away with all slander, libel, finger pointing, and hate speech crimes of every kind.

The better way is to build up with kind words, constructive criticism, promoting respect for every person. And kudos to Hilary Duff and Wanda Sykes for using their fame and time to benefit another.

I will not call the Ad Council a derogatory name. I simply ask them to reconsider using high profile icons to create a message that only goes half the distance. Please, create messages that benefit all Americans at no one’s expense.