The dream of the Rat

I dreamed I saw a rat. I remembered a shaman told me that if I ever dream or have a vision of an animal, I should pay close attention. If I can, I should ask the animal what it has to teach me.
I looked at the rat and he looked up at me. I asked the rat, "What do you have to teach me?"
The rat gave me a whiskery smile. Out of the side of his mouth he said, "Why do you hate me?"
I told him, "I hate you because at night you come into the crawl space of my house and make noise in the walls. The sound of your chewing keeps me up all night, and I cannot get any rest."
The next day I told the shaman my dream. He said, "Your dream is an important one. It has something to teach you.
"The animals only disturb us because we disturb them. We have so much and they have so little.
"This is like the rich people and the poor, the wealthy nations and the impoverished nations. The poor people's hunger and their efforts to get more disturbs the wealthy's peace, and the wealthy hate them for it.
"You should share what you have learned from this dream."