Dream: Nighttime Discrimination

I dreamed that all of the diseases in the world had been cured. Medical science not only found cures for all existing diseases, but also found a way to boost the human immune system to withstand almost anything.

This in turn caused the world's population to increase four times over in only 20 years. This period of population growth was nicknamed the "Human Boom." The president and congress held a meeting to discuss the severe overcrowding problem that was happening not only in the cities, but now in the rural areas as well.

They decided that only half of all citizens would be allowed to be awake during the day. The other half would carry on their lives in reverse -sleeping during the day, working at night. It wasn't required for you to be asleep during your designated sleeping time, but you were not permitted leave your home.

All the the government employees and the wealthy classes were designated "day-timers," and the poorer classes became "Nighters." It was covered up by a staged lottery drawing. It fooled none of the poor classes, but there was little they could do about it except attempting feeble protests. It was illegal for a Nighter to be outside during the day, and vise versa, but the penalties were much harsher for them than for the day-timers.

After many years of this, the Nighters became more and more restless and resentful of their oppression. They began to protest by leaving their homes during the day. There was a strong uprising when Congress decreed that in order to simplify the selection process, Nighter statues was now an inherited status.

At first the government kept track of people by requiring everyone to carry with them their Time Status License card. It was a typical ID card, but either imprinted with a yellow sun or a blue crescent moon. You were required to present your TSL card for inspection when asked by anyone in position of authority.
But there were so many people. The population was growing everyday. It was becoming near impossible to keep track of who was a Daytimer and who was a Nighter.
Eventually, all Nighters were required to get a tattoo of a crescent moon on the front of their throats, where the larynx is located. Tattoos were not required for Daytimers.

I wasn't very present in this dream. It was more like a movie than an experience happening to me. But there was one instance that I received a letter from my cousin who lived in Alaska. The situation was much worse up there. Daytimers and Nighters had to prepare for the long months where the sun was light or dark 24 hours a day. The rules were the same. As long as the sun is shining, Nighters are not allowed outside. But during the dark months, Daytimers were allowed outside between the hours of 6am and 10am. There were violent riots, and not enough militia to keep it under control, as there were in the mainland. My cousin's family were Nighters, and they decided to try to escape into Canada, and on to Greenland. The population in Greenland had only increased 100%, and there were no Night and Day rules as there were in America and most of Western Europe. She was taking a great risk in telling me this in a letter. The American government did not look too kindly on Nighter Propaganda.