“If wishes were horses, everyone would have one.” Who came up with that saying? Was it the same person who queried “Spit in one hand and wish in the other, and see which one fills faster?” And how come I never wanted a pony when I was a child? Oh yeah, because I feared them. And I was a geek. Still am. Not as scared of ponies, though.
As a matter of fact, the original saying was, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride,” part of a collection of Scottish proverbs circa 1628. Not to be confused with “If ‘Ifs and Buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a wonderful Christmas.”
I did have a dream one time where I was 50 foot tall – what do you think that means? Never mind – we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Which brings us to paragraph four, and what I really wanted to talk about.
As a child, I made some solid choices when it came to Christmas present requests. I asked Santa for Samuel Kling’s “Complete Guide to Everyday Law,” because I had intentions of being a lawyer when I grew up. I put Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” on my list one holiday because it’s one of the most innovative works of art ever written.
Yet for every chess set I requested as a gift, there was a sound activated disco light I asked for that should never have seen the light of day, let alone the underside of our Christmas tree.
Which made me wonder – what if you could go back to the time you were a child and have a reset on your Christmas wishes? If you had a reasonable chance of that request being fulfilled, would you ask for lots of money? World peace? To be a movie star? The possibilities are endless.
However, like anyone who runs across a lamp with a magic genie inside who offers you three wishes finds out, it is prudent to take a step back and assess your options.
Sure, your first urge might be for the genie to make you rich. Knowing your luck, they would legally change your name to Richard.
You can say you’ll use the cash for good until the cows come home, but be honest – don’t you make that same bargain with the lottery gods every time Mega-Millions reaches nine-digit figures?
World peace sounds wonderful. But whose ideal world peace do you want realized? As we’ve seen over the years, peace is defined in a lot of different ways, depending on religious, political, geographic and ideological bents.
Therein lies the rub. As good as our intentions are, we can’t impose our idea of happiness or well-being on others. Life just does not work that way.
I guess it is a good thing sometimes that you can’t unring a bell. In hindsight, maybe I wasn’t so far off on my Christmas wishes as a child. I gratefully accepted what I got, thanked Santa and my family, and started playing with my new treasures. While it might not be world peace, it was, for that day, household peace, and I was the richest child in the world. At least until the newness of the toys wore off.
