About 50 other soldiers were also on deck, dressed in khaki uniforms. Suddenly they all began lining up in four different lines. Sensing that I should join in, I also stepped into a line, but I quickly felt uncertain of the line I had chosen, because only one other man was in my line - in front of me - while each of the other three lines contained at least a dozen men.

I was just about to change lines, when the commanding officer – a tall thin man (about 50 years old) – stepped on deck. Someone then began walking along each line and handing a piece of bologna to each soldier. When I was handed my piece, I felt somewhat disgusted. Although I sometimes ate meat, I felt that doing so was wrong, and I especially did not want to eat this coarse piece of bologna.

Feeling confused, I sat down for a moment and tried to catch my thoughts. How could it be possible that I had joined the military? I tried to reflect, but my mind seemed groggy. I seemed to recall having had several shots of alcohol with other soldiers just before we had begun lining up, but beyond that, I drew a blank. My reasons for joining the military were completely absent. I only knew I would probably have to remain a soldier for around seven years. Incredible! How old would I be when I was released from this duty? I still had some life in me, but seven years would certainly rob me of a good hunk of it.

Suddenly, as fast as a bolt of lightening, I knew what I needed to do: I needed to create a collage. I had created many collages in my life from pictures which I had cut and collected from magazines, but I had not made any collages for a long time. Now, clearly, I thought I must make one. The image for the collage began forming in my mind.

A threatening, black tornado would descend from the upper left corner of the collage. I reflected that I had been having many tornado dreams lately, and I had not understood why. Now, the tornado dreams seemed to make sense to me. Inside the tornado I would place pictures of various objects which in some way represented threats to me. One of those objects would be a picture which had recently been associated with one of my dreams – a poster from the army with a picture of Uncle Sam which read "I want you for the United States Army." I reflected that this poster was another dream element which I had not understood, but which now made sense in the context of the tornado.

The focus of the collage, however, would be on the lower right corner where I would paste a picture of a sitting Buddha. I saw in my mind a picture which I thought I had seen in one of the copies of National Geographic which I had accumulated. I would have to search for the picture, but I believed I could find it. The Buddha would be sitting serenely in the foreground, while the menacing tornado, with its debris, raced from the background toward the Buddha.

Now, I only needed to decide whether I would make an actual collage of paper and paste, or whether I would scan the pictures onto my computer and make a digital collage. I could see advantages to both ways. I might not even use a picture for the tornado, but draw it instead. If I did so, I could draw the furious black lines of the tornado on a piece of paper, and then scan the drawing onto the computer. Or I might simply draw the tornado on the computer. Whichever method I chose, I needed to start.