2. —Jane Roberts
"No live organism can continue for long
to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.
Even larks and katydids are supposed,
by some, to dream."
—Shirley Jackson
"The future belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams."
—Eleanor Roosevelt
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. The Wishing Stone
Chapter 2. Set Your Goals and Make them Happen
Chapter 3. Wishes: Thoughts of the Heart
Chapter 4. Questions
Chapter 5. Who Answered
Chapter 6. Wish Classification
Chapter 7. Some Final Thoughts
Chapter 8. The Wishes - Female
Chapter 9. The Wishes - Male
Appendix 1. A Note on Wishes in History
Appendix 2. Some Closing Quotations
About the Author
3. Chapter 1. The Wishing Stone
The keys to unimaginable power are within the reach of the entire terrestrial
population. I am certain that the next leap for our species will not be launched
from the factories of physical technology, but from the night flights of creative
dreamers. Think about the possibilities. An erotic encounter of unprecedented
intensity with the most desirable partner you can imagine. A visit to an island
paradise where intelligent natives sing solutions to your everyday problems. In
one night, you could philosophize with Aristotle, joke with W. C. Fields, talk
investments with J. P. Morgan, and work out on the horizontal bar with Nadia
Comaneci....
—Howard Rhinegold
Respect your brother's dreams. —Native American Proverb
You are walking down a path and come to a colorful stone. As you pick up the stone, you
hear a voice, "Squeeze the stone with all your might, and your wishes will be granted.
Use the stone as often as you like." You hold the stone in your trembling hand for a few
seconds, close your eyes, and make your wishes. What are your wishes?
So began my international wish survey of people ages 9 to 90. Since the dawn of
civilization, humans have been fascinated by the notion of wish fulfillment. From
mythological genies in bottles offering three wishes, to religious prayers, to witchcraft, to
children's whispered entreaties while blowing out candles on a birthday cake, humans are
continually wishing, wishing, wishing....
What do people wish for today?
When I was a small child, I often found myself wishing for various physical powers, like
those exhibited by such superheroes as the X-men or Superman. I sometimes wondered if
I were the only one, but haven't we all wished for a genie in the bottle? How many of us
have made a wish while pulling on the wishbone of a chicken or while watching reruns of
I Dream of Jeanie?
Since ancient days, people consulted priests, shamans, or other wise men for dream
interpretation and wish-fulfilment. More recently, people consult mediums, crystals,
UFOs, and an amazing array of New Age paraphernalia. It seems humans have always
wished for material possessions and spiritual powers. What is the significance of our
specific wishes? How do our wishes changes with age? How do they vary with gender
and culture?
I think of "wishing" as part of a whole cultural picture; people's wishes mirror their
feelings and position in the rest of society. My experience reading and listening to
4. people's wishes has made me realize that wishes are not casual but rather are rooted in the
wisher's present life and concerns. In fact, it seems that wishes often replay people's lives
in depth, dredging dreams that are almost subconscious until written down. As you'll see
from reading the wishes in this book, a wish can give both literal information and also
symbolic information revealing a person's inner world with all its conflicts.
This book lets you keep your finger on the pulse on the world, to eavesdrop into the
usually-hidden side of human desire as people express in their own words their inner
fears and hopes. I've found the experience of receiving wishes from around the world to
be enriching, warming, and enlightening, and, I hope you will share in some of the
pleasure.
In more repressed times, the simple act of wishing was the greatest of sins, punishable by
everlasting fire in the afterlife or by cruel Inquisition-like punishments in this life. My
greatest hope is that this book may play a part in helping the next generation grow up in a
world where more wishes come true, where the expression of desire is not a
discourageable act but rather viewed as a creative tool and emotional outlet. Since wishes
are a barometer of the human condition, our society should devise more open ways of
talking about desires that will be positive and constructive.
Chapter 2. Set Your Goals and Make
Them Happen
Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. —Charles F.
Kettering
In my own life, I have found that wishing for certain goals to be important. Having
always desired to be a writer, I am now the successful author of over a dozen books and
the associate editor of various scientific journals. My Internet web site has received
thousands of visits a week. Having wished to get an advanced degree from an early age, it
took me three years to graduate first in my class in college, and I then quickly obtained a
Ph.D. from Yale University. You too can achieve your own goals and dreams.
Imagine a future world where a kindly and wise Goal Giver assigns children fascinating
goals that must be achieved in their lifetimes. When you are born, your parents are
handed a list with one-hundred goals. Some goals are difficult to achieve (pass a course
on differential geometry and topology) while others are simpler (play "Silent Night" on
the piano). As a stimulus to a nation's citizenry, if you achieve all 100 goals, there is a
reward of one million dollars. What would such a world be like? What are some goals
that a Goal Giver should assign? What would a human faced with this list really achieve?
5. Such an idea is not preposterous; in fact, there is a human today who forced himself to
achieve over 100 goals set down on paper in the early years of his life. The man's name is
John Goddard. When John was only a teenager, he took out a pencil and paper and made
a long list of all the things he wanted to achieve in life. He set down 127 goals. Here is a
list of just some of his goals:
1. Explore the Nile river.
2. Play "Claire de Lune" on the piano.
3. Read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.
4. Climb Mt. Everest.
5. Study primitive tribes in the Sudan.
6. Write a book.
7. Read the entire bible.
8. Dive in a submarine.
9. Run a five-minute mile.
10. Circumnavigate the globe.
11. Explore the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
12. Climb to the very top of Cheop's Pyramid.
Impractical? Not at all. Today John Goddard is in his seventies, and he has accomplished
more than 104 of his original 127 goals. He's become one of the most famous explorers in
the world. Goddard is the first man in human history to explore the entire length of both
the Nile and Congo rivers. His remaining goals are not so easy. He wants to visit the
moon and explore the entire Yangtze River in China. He still has not visited all the
world's countries, but this goal is almost achieved. He also wishes to live to see the 21st
century.
When I read about John Goddard in early high school, I made my own list:
1. Play "Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" on the piano (achieved 1990)
2. Learn Ch'ang-Shih Tai Chi and Shaolin Kung Fu (achieved 1996)
3. Obtain a Ph.D. from Yale University (achieved 1982)
4. Sell a novel (achieved 1995)
5. Raise golden Amazon sevrum fish (achieved 1990)
6. Play bass guitar in a rock band (achieved 1975)
7. Eat spicy tekka maki (achieved 1994)
8. Own a Mitsubishi sports car with a stick shift (achieved 1994)
9. Fire an Uzi submachine gun and Magnum 45 (achieved 1993)
10. Publish a technical paper with a triple integral symbol (achieved 1986)
11. File a United States patent (achieved 1986)
12. Have a book published in Japanese (achieved in 1991)
13. Have a professional massage (achieved 1993)
14. Have a book turned into a movie (not yet achieved)
15. Read Will and Ariel Durant's entire Story of Civilization (not yet achieved)
16. Visit Istanbul, Bangkok, and Jerusalem (not yet achieved)
17. Eat Fugu (not yet achieved)
6. 18. Find Adventures of a Grain of Dust, a book lost since childhood (achieved)
19. Learn to play the Japanese game Go. (not yet fully achieved)
20. Fully understand the concept, "All that is not given, is lost" (not yet achieved)
In contrast to the broader selection of wishes in this book, my list and Goddard's are all
achievable. Later, you'll get a chance to make a list that includes "impossible" wishes,
such as the power of invisibility and reading minds. For now, stop reading for a moment
and list five possible goals for yourself. Be both practical and wild:
1. ____________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________
All the wishes on your list are important. Like Goddard and myself, accomplishing your
goals will make you a happier person. Our world needs happy, satisfied, self-assured
people to provide humanity with ideas and inspirations.
Chapter 3. Wishes: Thoughts of the Heart
In dreams, the real hopes and possibilities of the dreamer, not idle wishes alone,
are given body and force in order to move us to creative action. After all, the wish
is father to the thought, and the thought is the instigator of the deed. Every human
achievement (and horror) was first created in the mind and dreams of man."
—Ann Faraday, The Dream Game
Wishes are visions made solid. Wishes are the wake-up calls of an undying spirit to begin
anew. Wishes are portals to the mind and to our future. The twenty-first century is the
Century of the Heart; it will be marked by all kinds of experiments—not only with the
brain's biology—but also in new ways of promoting self-understanding and emotional
growth. The use of wishes may play some small part in this because wishes can both
obliterate and illuminate everyday problems of work and human relationships.
This book inspires the formation of therapeutic, educational, philosophical, and social
groups in which people come together to discuss wishes. In fact, wishes may play both
serious and fun roles in family and community life, in religious organizations, and even
in the world of business and government. Student groups might approach wishing-
sessions as a game, with a touch of humor as they compare and try to understand the
various desires of their peer group. Played with enthusiasm, the wishing game can be a
productive work of self-discovery.
7. Students and educators should discuss the pros and cons of their wishes in the world. For
example, what would be the real impact on the world of various ecological or economic
wishes? One respondent in The Book of Wishes noted that if you give everyone unlimited
money, this would lead to runaway inflation. If you give everyone unlimited energy, this
would lead to global warming. Wish, but wish with care.
As we share our wishes, you will find yourself changing your own goals. Think about
which would elevate you and humanity. We may begin to understand how our lives are
ruled, our energies wasted, and our happiness spoiled by voices from the past whose
conditioning is inappropriate to the present. Money isn't everything. Modern industrial
psychology suggests that people's motivation in industrial life is not just the wish to earn
more money, but rather it heavily depends on personal relationships with others in the
work organization.
All of the wishes in this book illustrate one important feature of wishing: they express the
thoughts of our heart by dramatizing them, prioritizing them, and sometimes
exaggerating them in order to make an emotional point. The woman who wishes her
abusive husband dead has not reached the point of actually killing him, but her wish
focuses attention on the problem, and by expressing the wish to friends, she may find
help. In general, by bringing events to our conscious attention, wishes make us consider
the reasons we hold on to unhappy moments of the past. Sometimes the answer is that we
are using the past to avoid having to live fully in the present.
Chapter 4. Questions
"There are rhythms in the world waiting for words to be written to them."
—Patrica Garfield, Creative Dreaming
One respondent in this book said, "I wish I would stop wishing and actually do
something." This leads to a good question. I'm sometimes asked whether it could be
undesireable to stimulate wishing. Once we have opened the wishing gates, might not our
wishes burst forth and overwhelm us or waste our time? Might children and adults be
frustrated by expounding unachievable goals? Is the lure of wishing so great that we
might be sucked into morbid introspection and neglect our duties in the external world?
My answer is that wishing is as dangerous as living—no more, no less—and fears are
overrated. Part of our reluctance to disclose our wishes and inner life to our family,
friends, and society probably springs from the idea that it is dangerous to probe too
deeply into personal matters. However, nothing could be healthier and more uplifting
than expressing wishes, and I urge you to keep a wish book or diary to record your
thoughts and feelings as you read this book. To make the process fruitful, consider which
of your own wishes are actually possible to achieve and what steps are needed to make
the wish a reality.
8. In our complex, busy world, it's easy to lose sight of your visions and inner hopes. Are
you doing what you really want to do? Are you merely doing what you've been told to do
or what you think you should do? How many of you are living your dreams or have
hopes of fulfilling your wishes? What would your life be like if you stumbled upon a
"Wishing Stone", and, as a result, your wishes came true and you were doing exactly
what you wanted to do and can imagine for yourself? What skills would you develop to
help you express your creative abilities? What parts of your life might you wish to forget
if you could? What is the greatest achievement you can imagine yourself accomplishing?
Who is the greatest person you can imagine being? If your wishes are impossible to
achieve, what can you do to at least move your life in the desired direction? Most of us in
the West live in a society of the "American Dream"—but where do we learn to live our
dream? And what about the heightened sense of honor and duty in Oriental cultures. How
does duty and honor affect our dreams?
Chapter 5. Who Answered
Throughout history, great artists and musicians, poets, scientists, inventors,
writers, thinkers, and leaders have left us the legacy of their dreams for making
the world a better place in which to live. Enough dreams remain for you to
assume your rightful place among the dreamers—and doers—of the world.
—Joyce Chapman, Live Your Dream
I solicited people's wishes on the Internet in an attempt to discover what humans long for
as the millennium comes to a close. Obviously, since Internet access is more prevalent
among the wealthier and more educated people and countries, this survey underepresents
vast divisions of society. In addition, some cultures (particularly Americans) are more
open to expressing their inner desires then, let us say, Oriental cultures. As a result of this
sampling bias, critics will probably label this book "the wishes of techno-elite
Westerners"; nevertheless, wishes came from a wide array of occupations, ages, and
areas. A majority of wishers are from the United States with most of the U.S. States
represented. Wishes also came from respondents located in countries including: Brazil,
Malaysia, India, Sweden, Guatemala, Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore,
and the United Kingdom.
Respondents were aged from 9 to 90, with about 55% being men, 45% women.
Occupations included: actors, administrators, advertisers, army photographers, artists, art
directors, bank workers, billboard painters, child care workers, clothing business
entrepreneurs, computer and electronics specialists, costumers, counselors, dog trainers,
engineers, family mediators, housewives, game designers, kennel owners, legal
professionals, lunch ladies, letter carriers, librarians, managers, marketers, microscope
service engineers, medical professionals, martial artists, military professionals,
musicians, office mangers, publishers, preschool owners, psychologists, sales people,
9. seamstresses, school administrators, secretaries, security experts; college, high-school,
and graduate students; teachers and professors, webmistresses, and writers.
Last names have been omitted to respect the confidentiality of respondents. Despite this
anonymity, it is doubtful that the respondents felt free to tell me wishes involving illegal
activity or sexual practices, although I was amazed by apparent sincerity of the wishers.
As you read, I hope you enjoy the progression of wishers starting from young age to old.
Chapter 6. Wish Classification
In dreams we witness something more than mere wishes; we experience dramas
reflecting our psychological state and the process of change taking place in it.
Dreams are a laboratory for experimenting with changes in our psychic life....
This constructive or synthetic approach to dreams can be clearly stated:
dreaming is an endogenous process of psychological growth, change, and
transformation.
—Ernest Rossi, Dreams and the Growth of Personality, 1972
Peoples' wishes fell into about 20 categories with the first 10 including most of the
wishes (Table 1). The following are some example wishes in each category to give you a
feel for the meaning of each category. The categories are sorted from most common
wishes ("People") to least common. Naturally, some categories overlap.
1. People - these wishes include the desire to talk to or be with certain people not
available due to death or various separations, the happiness of other people, helping other
people, hoping other people would use their brains, changes in the attitudes of others,
elimination of deafness and disabilities, meeting famous people (Tori Amos, Peter
Gabriel, Robin Williams, Carl Sagan), desire for famous people to return to life to help
the world, punishment of other people, well-being of world's children, people smiling,
teaching people lessons of life, better communications between people, improving other
people's understanding, desire for the death of drug users or firearm users, end of human
suffering, abolition of racism, return of a lost love, education of children around the
world, knowing what others think of oneself.
2. Money/Material - these wishes include the desire for wealth for personal use, material
possessions, and freedom from debt. The category also includes wishes for money or
materials (e.g. cars or computers) that are given to others.
3. Skills/Powers - this category includes desires for various abilities. Chess,
communication skills, photographic memories, superpowers, invisibility, telekenesis,
power to heal, mind-reading, mind-influencing, omnipotence, flying, running, athletic
skills, musical skills, programming skills, painting, photographic memory, creativity,
10. pilot's license, returning to college, teleportation; the desire to feel colors, hear shapes,
taste sounds; the desire to be a better teacher, living at the edge of one's capabilities,
better memory, talents, language acquisition....
4. Family - these wishes are similar to those in the "People" category but are more
oriented to family members. They include topics such as: happiness of one's children, not
taking partners for granted, happiness and safety of daughters, closer relationship with a
spouse, wishes that parents stop fighting, reuniting parents, health of children, preventing
self-destruction of family members (alcoholism, anorexia, high-risk behavior), well-being
of parents and grandparents, finding missing relatives, wishing for a baby, wishing that
family members are still alive, wishes for changes in spouse's attitudes....
5. Peace - these wishes cover such topics as: ending violence, peace on a personal or
global scale, peace of mind, end of fighting with spouse or fiancee, the destruction of
nuclear weaponry, and ending violence against women.
6. Spirituality - these wishes often include terms such as "consciousness", "spirituality",
"self-realization", "karma," "spiritual love", "romantic love", "goodness", "blessedness",
realization of personal powers", "spiritual communion", "soul-mates", "nirvana", a wish
that others enjoy the "beauty and mystery" of universe, a high-bandwidth connection to
the universe's source of creativity....
7. Knowledge/Intellect - these wishes involve increasing one's intelligence, knowledge,
understanding, or wisdom. Also included are desires to understand Einstein's theories,
better understanding of life, knowledge and understanding of math and physics,
omniscience, a pair of goggles that reveal the world "as she really is", learning secrets
and a theory of everything....
8. Personality - these wishes deal with the self, a change in oneself to improve happiness,
desires for happiness in general, a wish to love oneself, improvement in one's honesty,
self-worth, emotions, bliss, patience and acceptance of self, a sense of purpose, living in
present, valuing others without judgment, common sense, alleviation of depression,
discipline, awareness, the desire to never conform....
9. Health - the desire for personal health, curing diseases on a global scale, safe and legal
abortions, birth control, weight reduction, health of others, curing post traumatic stress
disorder, curing AIDS, regeneration of lost limbs and wound repair.
10. Philosophical - these wishes often include interesting logical constructs and often
deal with the act of wishing or the wishing stone. Examples: "I wish I had no need to
wish," "I wish I knew what to wish for," "I wish for you never to give out any more free
wishes," "I wish that after me, the wishing stone would only fall into the hands of those
would do good," "I wish that those who wish loudest don't interfere with the wishes of
the softest," "I wish I would stop wishing," "I wish I didn't have the stone," "I wish the
wishing stones would vanish," "I wish for the stone's power to grant wishes." Other
topics: "undo" options so that wishes could be undone, asking "why", paradoxes, and
11. wishing for "the impossible." Many wishes in this category were self-referential,
referring back to the wisher, the wishing, or the wishing stone.
11. Occupational - job happiness, desire to become a particular profession, to be a
famous composer, job easiness and fulfilment, the desire to find a company that exploits
one's ideas, a good job.
12. Geopolitical/Ecological - population control, habitat destruction, nation boundaries,
pollution, housing for all in the world, universal language, end to world hunger and
famine, rebuilding of rain forests.
13. Travel - traveling through real and imaginary worlds and lands.
14. Immortality - longer lives, living forever, invulnerability, and issues dealing with
staying young.
15. Time - operating outside of time, manipulating time (slowing time down, stopping
time), wishing for more time, and time travel.
16. Religious - "finding God," "hearing His voice," "understanding His purpose," "being
true to God," "having knowledge of God," "experience deep religious ecstasy before
Christmas," "to know who created God," "to know which religion is correct."
17. Mate Acquisition - finding a wife or husband, finding a life-long companion, or
access to male or female companionship.
18. Sexual - expressions of sexual desires, or desires for a sex change, desire for libido in
a partner, the achievement of "unexcelled sexual union with a being of my choice."
19. Pet - well-being of pets, desire for a pet, animal rights.
20. Business - a desire for change in some industry.
21. Fame - to have a name that is never forgotten.
22. Cosmic - first contact with aliens, proving aliens exist
Table 1. Wish Categorization
Male: Female Under 40: 40 and Above
People 1: 1.3 1: 0.5
Money/Material 1: 1.8 1: 0.4
Skills/Powers 1: 1.1 1: 0.3
Family/Children 1: 2.0 1: 1.1
Peace 1: 1.5 1: 0.7
Spirituality 1: 0.9 1: 0.3
Intellect/Knowledge 1: 0.5 1: 0.2
Personality 1: 2.0 1: 0.5
12. Health 1: 1.7 1: 1.0
Philosophical 1: 0.4 1: 0.3
Occupational 1: 1.7 1: 0.1
Geopolitics/Eco. 1: 2.3 1: 0.3
Travel 1: 4.0 1: 0.1
Time 1: 1.7 1: 0.1
Immortality 1: 0.7 1: 1.0
Religious 1: 0.8 1: 0.5
Mate acquisition 1: 0.6 1: 0.1
Sexual 1: 0.6 1: 4.0
Pets 1: 5.0 -
Business 1: 1.0 -
Fame 1: 1.0 -
Cosmic 1: 1.0 -
Example interpretation: For every one wish in the Pet category made by a male, there
were five wishes made by females in this category. "-" symbols indicate that there few or
no wishes in these categories by people 40 and above.
As you can see from Table 1, the top five categories dealt with People, Money,
Spirituality, Skills, and Family. Before starting this study, I had thought that most people
would wish for the impossible, such as immortality or the power to move objects with
their mind, but to my surprise the overwhelming majority of wishes fell into achievable
and possible goals. (Examples of "possible" wishes include finding a mate, gaining
money or fame, or having safe abortions available to the world.) Keep in mind that
responses would have been quite different if the survey was given under different
conditions. For example, I was surprised how few respondents mentioned religion, asked
to meet God, or to know if God exists—but I'm sure I would have received more of these
wishes if I handed out a questionnaire while in a church. Here's another example of how
wishes could have been biased. If I were to say the word "Claudia Schiffer" or "Brad Pitt"
before asking men and women, respectively, to write down their wishes, I suspect the
responses would have been quite different.
Here are some other observations. The wishes of female respondent's more often dealt
with family than did men's wishes. (As the Table indicates, for every 1 wish made by a
male in this category, there were 2 wishes made by females.) Men were more interested
in wishes dealing with the intellect and knowledge than women. People younger than 40
were more concerned with jobs, spiritual matters, and desire for power and knowledge,
than people older than 40. Women were more interested in pets and animals than men.
Stop and examine Table 1 for yourself. Are there other categories you think should be
added to the table? Write two other categories here:
1. ________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
After you read through the wishes at the end of the book, and formulate your own wishes,
come back and look at what you just wrote. Do you have more categories or trends to
13. add? Did anyone fall into the categories you added? Do you feel differently about the
world?
Chapter 7. Some Final Thoughts
But because the name of the game is liberation from bondage, it is also an
invitation to the dance.
—Anne Faraday, The Dream Game
The Book of Wishes raises more questions than it answers. For example, do you think
those respondents who wished for unlimited knowledge and power would be happy with
the results? What kind of creature would result from such power? What would it be like
to exist outside of space and time? Thomas Aquinas believed God to be outside of
spacetime and thus capable of seeing all of the universe's objects, past and future, in one
blinding instant. An observer existing outside of time, in a region called "hypertime," can
see the past and future all at once. What kind of relationship with humans could a
creature (or God) have who lives completely outside of time? How could they relate to us
in our changing world?
Are there people who don't have any wishes or dreams? If such people exist, what are
they like? Are they content, or do they have a tendency to focus on their problems? Are
they more inhibited, more conformist, and more self-controlled than people with many
creative wishes?
As I have already suggested, many people have a problem discovering and identifying
their wishes and aspirations. We are often trained to live according to someone else's idea
of what we should be or do. Imagine how art, writing, philosophy, and science would be
changed if people never honored their tiny "impossible" thoughts that percolate in their
dreams and subconscious minds.
As we grow older, many of us are troubled by a vague sense that we are not the people
we really want to be. Yet we don't stop to define who we want to be. We can visualize
what makes us unhappy, but we sometimes don't give much thought to what makes us
happy! Since the eighth century, Tibetan Buddhists have used lucid dreaming as a path to
self-discovery. In lucid dreams, one realizes that a dream is a dream and sometimes one
can control the dream. Similarly we might use our wishing to develop a more flexible
attitude, a prioritization of our needs, and a way to learn to change ourselves as well.
Your own wishes will certainly change as a result of reading this book. Stop right now
and write down your five top wishes:
14. 1.
_________________________________________________________________
_
2.
_________________________________________________________________
_
3.
_________________________________________________________________
_
4.
_________________________________________________________________
_
5.
_________________________________________________________________
_
When you are finished reading through the wishes, come back and write down your five
top wishes again:
1.
_________________________________________________________________
_
2.
_________________________________________________________________
_
3.
_________________________________________________________________
_
4.
_________________________________________________________________
_
5.
_________________________________________________________________
_
How do your wishes compare? Why did they change?
I hope others will try to model a world that incorporates as many wishes as possible.
Would such a world be more like heaven or hell? How different would this world be than
the one we live in? How would children's ideal worlds compare to adults'? What would
most people do once they got all their wishes?
Many of us our too shy to express our wishes. So be it. Let's not grow hardened to our
own secret wishes. When possible, telling others our wishes provides a clarity and
catharsis. Knowing and expressing dreams and wishes is first step to realizing them. Your
wishes are your muses, your sources of inspiration. In some cases, they can save
15. marriages when feelings are otherwise not adequately expressed. If children and adults
are too afraid to tell others their wishes, whole populations can suffer. In his famous "I
Have a Dream" speech, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. moved an entire nation to aspire
to his vision of freedom and equality for all.
Chapter 8. The Wishes - Female
Ages Under 10
"I wish that when ever something goes wrong, the world would just pause and
sing me a song, that God would send raindrops to water my dreams, and make
flowers grow from magical beans" - Evie Bohanan, an 11-year-old from Ryan
Middle School
Pamela P. is a 9-year-old from Yorktown Heights, New York. "I wish for peace, no guns,
no more killing endangered species, no more pollution, and no more tobacco. I also wish
for a house of my own where I could be by myself."
Jenna is a 9-year-old from Shrub Oak, New York. "I wish I was an angel. I wish all of the
criminals were in jail."
Lauren F. is a 9-year-old from Cortland, New York. "I wish I had 112,000,000,000
dollars. I wish I was the most popular girl."
Jessica is a 9-year-old girl from White Plains, New York. "I wish I had a village to live
in."
Amanda F. is a 9-year-old girl from Millwood, New York. "I wish for all the chocolate in
the world."
Ages 10-19
"I wish I could fight. I wish I could hear movement behind me. I wish I could
scent out malevolence. I wish I could use any weapon I wanted, especially my
hands. If I could, I would never have to wish for it again. And I could sleep." - 17-
year-old female respondent "A"
Jennifer A. is an 11-year-old from Massapequa Park, New York. She writes, "I'm in sixth
grade in Miss Gluck's class, of the John P. McKenna school. I love to horseback ride. My
favorite color is purple. I wish to own a wonderful horse named Perfect Gentlemen. The
only problem is that he costs $5,000. My parents would buy me the horse if we could find
a place with very cheap boarding charges, or if we can buy a house with a big enough
16. backyard. Maybe you might know of a horse stable I can call, or of a person selling their
house at a reasonable price with a large backyard. If you know of either, and would like
to help out a little eleven-year-old girl please call me on the phone (number deleted), and
make sure you ask for JENNIFER."
Zahira S. is an 11-year-old from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. "I have a lot of money and many
Internet homepages. I wish for peace—there is too much war going on here. I wish for 10
million dollars (to be the richest), everyone to have a house, supplies for camping, a
computer printer, and love for everyone."
Dina R. is a 14-year-old from Rockville, Maryland. "I like mathematics, inexplicable
things, and all your popular science and puzzle books. I wish I didn't have to take AP US
History. I wish I could manipulate space and time at my will. Then I would make time
move nonlinearly, because the sequential stream of time really annoys me. In this way,
I'd have all the time I wanted to learn mathematics. I wish I could travel to imaginary
worlds, e.g. in books or pictures. I wish I had a pet monster who could project his
thoughts as colorful images into the current world. I wish I had a Random Event
Generator that could make anything happen at anytime at all. I wish everything had an
'undo' button. If everyone's wishes come true, would that create some kind of a gigantic
paradox? It probably would. I wish people would smile more."
Emily F. is a 14-year-old from Galesburg (undisclosed state). "I'm in band and I play the
flute. Band is my life. I wish to be able to attend Juliard, because it's the best music
school in the world. I also wish that there weren't shop-lifting detectors in almost all the
stores. They always go off when I walk through them even though I don't steal anything."
Erin D. is a 16-year-old from Springfield, Illinois. "I like role- playing and reading,
especially fantasy stories. I wish for world peace and a world where every human being is
sincerely nice to everyone else. I wish for an end to world hunger. Or, more specifically,
that all the excess food is used to feed the poor instead of just being put aside. We have
more food than we'll ever need. I wish for a Nintendo 64."
Annie S. is a 16-year-old cheerleader from Salem, New Hampshire. "My interests include
cheerleading, gymnastics, writing, acting, and modeling. I'm a very stubborn individual
with an open heart, but a sensitive personality. My life is filled with problems and
mishaps, and I'm usually depressed. I try to cover the pain that sears me, but tears
continue to flow. I dream for recognition. My main wish is for the return of a lost love.
His name is Robert. Throughout the year and 5 months that we were together, we gave
each other the world, but one day the magic died. He too is only 16 years old and I
understand his need to see others in his search for the right one. It has been over two
months since our breakup, but I am still aching painfully. I cry myself to sleep with his
hockey jersey in my arms and his pictures beside my bed and under my pillow. I beg that
he learns how to trust me again and realizes that I never lied to him. My love for him will
never end and I pray that God or some higher being will help and bring him back to me. I
desperately need him and until I find his love again, I won't sleep peacefully. I hope that
17. someone out there will answer my prayers and make my wish come true. For there is no
other like Rob..."
Elizabeth S. is a 17-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina. "I like reading, writing,
cross-country running, back-packing, animals, traveling, children, and helping others and
the environment. I'm applying to the University of California at Davis with possible
majors in International Relations, French or French literature, or Russian. I'd love to be a
teacher. I'm Catholic and pray every night before bed. I wish for peace on Earth—a peace
in which people can accept others' differences, in which people care enough to help one
another, and where there is no crime on every other street corner, and people crying over
cars in one city and starvation in another. I wish for the world's landmarks to remain as
the are; for the rain forests to be rebuilt; for humans to stop polluting our world. I wish
for this because I think the world is beautiful and humans are ugly. I wish to travel all
over the world, to visit different peoples and cultures as well as different landmarks
where I can backpack, mountain climb, and cave. I wish to be in perfect condition to be
able to do these things. I love new experiences as well as being an active participant in
nature. I wish to be able to speak more than one language fluently so I can speak to other
people in their language. I wish for people to be able to communicate and the world to
maintain peace and a sense of unity without computers. (I hate technology.) I wish for
Jordan to like me and not have a long distance relationship. (I wish this because he was
really cute and I really like him, yet he lives in France.) I wish to know which religion is
correct because I'm confused, all religions seem correct and I stop believing in God. I
wish for life to be simpler, to be allowed to live and enjoy the moment. I wish mermaids
existed and I could be one, if only for a day. I wish I can be invisible for one day so that I
can see what other people think about me. I wish to be able to fly. I wish for a horse, or,
more specifically, a pegasus. I wish to be able to fall asleep within five minutes of
wanting to, and to have a deep, dreamless sleep after which I wake up refreshed and able
to face a full day. I wish I lived where it snows. I wish to live where the summers aren't
as humid, unlike South Carolina where I live. I wish for perfect vision because right now
it's -10, and that prevents a lot of fun things—like quickly getting ready for school, bed,
or swimming."
Kelly G. is a 17-year-old from Gasport, New York. "I like dragons and swords, music,
the fantastic and imaginary, and books (right now I'm reading Stranger in a Strange
Land). I wish for a degree of happiness and fulfillment that can only be described as
nirvana. I want to shine like the sun and wallow in pleasure. I want my smile to be
commonplace. I want to know nothing but happiness and love."
A. is a 17-year-old from Mississippi. "I'm interested in Egyptology, fiction, animated
cartoons, scuba diving, and occasional social interaction. I wish I could fight. I wish I
could hear movement behind me. I wish I could scent out malevolence. I wish I could use
any weapon I wanted, especially my hands. If I could, I would never have to wish for it
again. And I could sleep."
Abbey R. is an 18-year-old from Kingston, Pennsylvania. "I live for the outdoors and
love all four seasons. I enjoy: horseback riding, hiking, painting, sketching, writing,
18. reading, mountain biking, camping, singing, and most of all walking at night. I love all
animals and have a dove, a canary, a finch, a Siamese Fighting fish, and two hamsters. I
would have more animals if it were possible. I work at the university's library. Wishing is
good because it gives you something for which to go on living. Even if the wish is
ludicrous and could never happen you can always dream. I wish that I could keep that
wonderful refreshing feeling I get when I take a night walk or climb a mountain. I wish
that everything made sense to me. I wish that we weren't born to work. I wish we could
all go out and discover the beauty of the world within—in gardening, poetry, running, or
painting all day long. I wish that everybody could find a way to make a living doing what
they like to do so that they would not become sour. I wish I could figure out what I want
to study to become."
Andrea F. is an 18-year-old college student from Louisiana, Missouri. "I am a
Math/English major, campus newspaper editor, former cleaning lady, bad typist, and all
around cool person. I love to read, play the violin badly, and hate to dance. I intend to be
a mathematics professor and publish mathematics books. Be careful, you might get what
you wish for. I'm wishing I was either completely alone or very safely and securely
attached. I wish my boyfriend had a libido, that I didn't hate my Calculus professor, that I
didn't dread going home for Thanksgiving so much, that my term paper about social
interactions in barbershops was written and was good. I wish my sister was happier at
home alone now, that my mother wasn't so overbearing, that I actually liked my
psychology class and that there would be world peace. I wish I didn't have a two-and-a-
half hour drive home with people I didn't really like, that I wasn't such a wimp when I
wanted something, that I'd done my math homework last night, and that I had gone out
and goofed off with Pete before we left for Thanksgiving break. I'm wishing that
everything would work out okay... and you know what? Something tells me that it will."
Meg S. is an 18-year-old from an undisclosed location. "I love Physics, Chemistry, and
Mathematics and also have an extremely creative side because I sing, play the piano,
have been doing ballet for 14 years, and love to perform in theater. I wish I knew what
people thought of me. For example, do "my friends" really like me or do they just say
they do to be nice? I also wish that I knew what I look like. Is the image I see in the
mirror completely distorted? How do other people view my physical self? Do they think
I'm skinny or healthy or fat? Will they lie because they know me? (I became mildly
anorexic throughout my ballet training.) I'll never know for sure if my image is distorted
or not. I don't wish for material things because I really don't want or need them. I'd rather
be able to say on my dying day that I was happy and fulfilled. The only way that is
possible is through love and doing what makes me happy - dancing, singing, and acting."
Laurence C. is a 19-year-old college student from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. "I study
biochemistry because I don't really know what I want to do, and I love science, art, and
theatre music. I wish to be invisible (so I can see and hear without being seen or heard),
to possess telepathic and telekinetic abilities (to be able, at the other's consent, to speak
through the mind) to be able to fly, and also take whatever I am touching flying with me
(like a friend) to have an endless bank account, so I can start my own theatre company
19. and not worry about living in a slum. I wish to make Alexandre love me again, to meet
Robin Williams and Tori Amos, and to ask God, 'Why?'"
Heather J. is 19-year-old college student from Iowa City, Iowa. "I am a Chemical
Engineering Major with a long-time interest in fractals. I wish to be satisfied with my life
when I'm old. I want to be able to completely live my life and do everything that I've
wanted to do. My second wish is to be an astronaut. Flying in space would be an absolute
wonder. My third wish is to control time, to stop the clocks every now and then. Control
over time would make it easier to appreciate life."
Ages 20-29
"Write down in a notebook five positive thoughts or feelings that you experience
each day. Stretch your horizons and follow each with a statement of a new dream,
idea or challenge to add to your life." - Ardath Rodale
Anjie K. is a 20-year-old from Birmingham, England. She is interested in dance and the
mantic arts. "I should tell you about a wish box I read about and used when I was
younger. You just made a box yourself, and decorated it. You wrote your wishes on a
piece of paper and put them in a box. When they came true you burnt the paper and put
the ash back in the box to help the other wishes along. I believed in this method which is
why it probably worked. I don't own the box anymore but my wish box was a great thing.
My wish was for the happiness in love to last. I thought about my present boyfriend and
wished for that feeling of love to never leave because relationships are often torn apart
due to learned behavior patterns, trying to change each other, and not remembering you
fell in love with how they were, not how you would like them to be. I wish we can love
ourselves."
Sarah S. is a 22-year-old child-care worker from San Francisco, California. "I am a recent
Oberlin graduate, working with 6 year olds. I love to cook, read, watch cartoons, and
mother my friends. My favorite pass time is making witty banter with well-referenced
sparring partners. Like the song said on and album I had as a kid, 'King Solomon, he
didn't pray for wishes, King Solomon, he didn't pray for fame, King Solomon he prayed
to get the wisdom which brought him fame and wisdom anyway.' Poor rhyme scheme,
but it makes sense. When I'm wiser, I'll know better what to wish for. Right now, using
the capabilities I presently have, I'd wish for green eyes. I also wish to know what people
really mean when they talk. I wish for the ability to alter how I am seen by others
(glamour) and stronger willpower. Wish for too many concrete things (i.e. world peace,
riches, everlasting happiness) and it would make life pointless. I just want to have fun
with the status quo."
Amy S. is a 20-year-old from Dunedin, New Zealand. "I love animals, music, and writing
poetry. I wish that no one in the world ever intentionally hurts anyone else, because
people are continually hurting other people… If I wished for eternal happiness for
everyone, then no one would probably ever know they were happy because they wouldn't
know sadness either. I also wish that all of Richard Bach's theories were true, because his
20. world seems like a nice place to be. Finally, I wish for all the money I'd ever want
because as much as I'd like to think that I'm not materialistic, I want to travel to
California."
S. H. is a 21-year-old sociology and anthropology student from Johnson City, Tennessee.
"I wish for a better understanding of life. I want to understand every single minute aspect
of life. I wish to understand why people hurt others even when they don't want to. (Why
we can't make ourselves happy; why do we need to 'wish' to be happy; what is it we
need?) I wish to know how some people can be oblivious to things that are going on
around them, and why the people who do see don't care to say anything about it, or are
scared to, or don't know how. I wish to know Everything. Maybe then humans wouldn't
be such a mystery."
J. R. S. is a 22-year-old pre-medical student from Oxford, Ohio. "I work as an emergency
medical technician and am interested in theatre and music. About a year ago, a good
friend of mine froze to death while on a trip to the French Alps. If I had a wish, I would
go back in time and make sure that he does not go on such a trip. I would wish for his life
back, and I would wish to take away the suffering that he experienced."
Theen-Theen T. is a 22-year-old graduate student from Penang, Malaysia. "I am currently
a graduate student in Computer Science at University of Maryland at College Park. I am
interested in travelling, dancing, cooking, and reading. I wish I am talented enough to
simultaneously pursue various fields in the natural and social sciences. Pursuing
knowledge is one of my three quests in life. I wish to experience the world, its nature, and
its people. I wish to travel all over the earth, to see all the natural wonders, taste all the
food, meet all kinds of people. To fulfill this quest I wish for time, health, energy, and
money. I wish there is a universal language that everyone could understand. I wish the
best for my friends and family. I hope to find someone to share my life, my ideals, and
my love with. Human relationships are the most precious thing on earth. I wish all human
beings are loving, understanding, and give each other respect despite differences in race,
class, gender, educational background, nationality. The world would be a much better
place to live when the lives on it are happy."
Kirsten S. is a 23-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden. "I wish that money wasn't a
deciding factor in everything. I wish that food produced could be distributed evenly
around the world to everyone, eliminating the needless destruction of food surpluses and
the needless death by starvation of countless humans and animals, without worrying
about economies. I wish that everyone's basic needs and rights could be met, however
poor they are. I wish that research and development could proceed without researchers
having to campaign for funding. I wish they could get to Mars without bickering about
how much it is going to cost. My most heart-wrenching wish: I wish that animals could
be given the same basic rights as human beings, the same protection. We should strongly
protect those who are at our mercy and who don't understand our motivations, who
endure enormous suffering in some cases. The pain of a beagle in an animal
experimentation lab, the terror of a cow at an abbotoir, this is all wrong. It just should not
happen. There are those that argue that we can't know that animals know fear and pain.
21. We can't know that they feel contentment, happiness or love. But perception is a private
world. We can never know what a horse feels, how a horse perceives the world, any more
than I can know how you perceive the world. So if the horse appears to be itchy, I believe
we should accept he knows he is itchy. And we should accept that the cow knows the
terror, that the beagle knows the pain. And stop the torture. My selfish and personal wish:
A three-day weekend. We would all be far happier people with far lower blood pressure
if we all had a three-day weekend."
S. P. is a 23-year-old engineering student from Canberra, Australia. "I am studying at the
Australian National University, leading a slacker- type of lifestyle. I like drinking, good
music, drawing and painting. I really like your web page. I wish I would stop wishing and
actually do something. I believe that if you want something then nine times out of ten you
can get it, so why don't I go get it instead of just wishing all the time?"
Amy K. is a 24-year-old theatre student from Minneapolis, Minnesota. "I like dance, the
Internet, furry animals, and pretty boys, and I hate professional sports. I wish for my dad
to acquire the necessary self- knowledge to become a happier person. All his
relationships are built on half-truths and mistrust, and he goes through life searching for
another affair that will make life worth living. He is the saddest person I know, and I am
afraid that someday soon he will just give up and take his leave of this earth that has been
such a disappointment to him. I miss him; I love him; I want the weight off his shoulders
before it breaks him. I want to become the best I can be in this world. I want to have a
life's work that fits me like a glove, so I can leave the world a little better than I found it.
(And I was born during the Nixon years, so maybe that's not setting the bar too high.) I
wish for peace on earth, a little more love and acceptance, and a little less hate."
Eve M. is a 25-year-old from astronomer from New Zealand. "I'm interested in bio-
astronomy, spectroscopy and the universe in general. I wish to be happy and caring, to try
and prove that aliens exist, to love my family and take care of them, and to have enough
money so that I don't have to worry about money.
Maggy W. is a 25-year-old college student from Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. "I am a full-
time student preparing to transfer into Mansfield University's Sociology/Anthropology
program. My interests are Frida Kahlo's artwork, Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, dancing,
painting, and the sculpture of Camille Claudel. I wish for: a cure for AIDS, safe and
accessible abortions, being allowed to choose without added pressures, a complete end to
the Religious Right of America, illegalization of fundamental Christianity, complete,
intelligent sex education in our schools, a good job waiting for me when I graduate
college (teaching Anthropology at a University), being able to travel every summer,
children, meeting and being able to have just one conversation with Dr. Carl Sagan, an
end to the fighting between myself and my fiancee, just one more day with my
grandmother who died two years ago, hearing my father say 'I love you,' and, finally, I
wish to get my pilot's license."
Susan P. is a 26-year-old from Allston, Massachusetts. "I just reread a classic of
children's literature, Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit which describes five children and
22. a sandfairy that gives them wishes, but all the wishes seem to turn out wrong. I wish my
job paid $5000 more a year than it does. I'm in publishing, which should explain it all.
I'm 26 and I can't afford to live without a roommate and I find that somewhat depressing.
I can't pay for therapy without sacrificing luxuries like food and phone calls to my
parents. I wish all museums were free to the public and well funded. I wish mega-
corporation bookstores would stop squeezing out the little independent bookstores. I wish
Boston had good public transportation that ran all night. I wish abortion was safe and
legal for everyone. I wish for less violence against women. I wish my sister and my
parents will always be healthy and happy. I wish I were more creative. I wish I could fly,
just for one day, without wings, or teleport at will to anywhere in the world. I would
spend the day with my friend Stacy in Minneapolis or with my friend Jad in Colorado,
and then teleport back home. I wish I had known my grandfather better."
Erica C. is a 26-year-old from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. "I wish that people would
teach their children to have respect for other people. Teach children that abuse, rape, and
violence is wrong and not to be tolerated. I wish people would teach their children to
defend themselves against bad people who want to hurt them. I wish people would
understand that women have brains and talent. I wish people would understand that a
person of any ethnic or racial origin has brains and talent. I dislike all forms of
discrimination. I wish people would be kind to each other."
Mel is a 27-year-old college student from Atlanta, Georgia. "I am a college washout, an
artist, a science buff, a Christian, a dreamer and a geek. I enjoy computer graphics,
acting, dinosaurs, and gaming. I have never held a paying job, but I hope to soon. If a
wishing stone started talking to me, I wouldn't be inclined to trust that voice. But, if I did
trust that voice I would wish that no one would ever be an innocent victim, save that it be
in a way most minor. I would wish for the superpowers that I have in my dreams. And I
would wish that my friends, and, maybe everybody, would know the most important
things, the truth that I know. I pray for that often. Perhaps I wouldn't need to wish it after
all. I wish that after me, the wishing stone would only fall into the hands of those who
would do good."
A. Fincke is a 28-year-old artist from Madison, Wisconsin. "I wish for prosperity and
health for my partner, friends, family, and myself. For everyone. I wish for enough
money to be as generous as I'd like to be. I would like my contribution to the world to be
great and of help to others."
Michelle K. is a 28-year-old from Middletown, New Jersey. "I wish for another baby. My
son is 9 years old now but I would like to have another. I am not infertile but finding the
time to be pregnant would be difficult with my job situation."
Laura R. is a 29-year-old librarian from Alexandria, Virginia. "Not only am I an MLS
degreed librarian, but I also have 28 hours of graduate study in Applied
Anthropology/Archaeology. My nonworking hours are entirely taken up with training my
two Australian Shepherds for competition. I wish for life-long health, happiness and
prosperity. I guess that translates into winning the lottery and buying a large farm so that
23. I can take in unwanted/abandoned Australian Shepherds and train them for use as
assistance, guide, and therapy dogs—anything that can give them a purpose in life."
Ages 30-39
"Think of yourself as a potter who takes the earth, water, fire, and air to mold a
beautiful masterpiece. It is you who nourishes the soft, pliable clay in your hands
to tenderly mold your masterpiece with love. It is you who are creating your life
with dreams that you'd like to turn into reality." - Ardath Rodale
Kris B. is a 30-year-old writer and musician from Des Moines, Iowa. "I wish I had
enough money to own a beautiful home in the woods, with all of the amenities, so that I
could stay home all day, write, play music, garden, and be creative. So far, I have almost
always received everything I have wished for—professionally speaking. I wished to
become a college level instructor, and I have achieved that goal. But because teaching is
time-consuming, I have neither the time nor the resources to do the things which really
make me happy: writing and creating music. As an educator, it is almost impossible to
make the kind of money and reserve the kind of time I need to really be a productive
artist. When I was a student my wishes seemed attainable, because I could translate them
into goals. Now all of my wishes seem unattainable, because they center on money and
opportunity. I wish my boyfriend could get half-time custody of his children so that he
would be happier and wouldn't have to pay so much child support.
Danielle G. is a 30-year-old artist, designer and writer from Palo Alto, California. She
enjoys reading, dancing, figure skating, learning, creating, math, science, people,
animals, and healing. "My wish: to maintain a centered state of spirituality within
myself."
L. M. is a 30-year-old from Waltham, Massachusetts. "I'm recently engaged and wish for
a happy marriage. I wish Boston and San Diego were 10 miles apart so I wasn't so far
from my family (in San Diego). I wish for enlightenment for both myself and fiancee so
we know what we want to be when we grow up."
Sharon E. is a 31-year-old librarian from St. Louis, Missouri. "I work as a librarian in a
university library, developing the English literature collection and working at the
reference desk. I was married 2 months ago to a graduate student in Chinese literature. I
like to read, garden, ride my bicycle, cook, and hike in the woods. I wish for a small
home near the Atlantic ocean. I wish for a good teaching job for my husband when he
gets his Ph.D. I wish for a healthy baby in a few years. I wish to work for my community
someday—to improve the environment or people's lives. I wish to master government
publications so I can help people more effectively at the reference desk. I wish for a good
home for our two cats, whom we have to give away because I am allergic to them."
Cheryl T. is a 31-year-old college student from Wellsburg, West Virginia. "I am a student
at West Virginia University studying Technology Education at the Masters Level. I have
traveled throughout the U.S., and I have been out of college for sometime and have
24. finally returned. One wish accomplished. I also wish to receive my doctorate and teach at
the university level. This has always been a dream of mine but being among the first
generation in my family to graduate or even attend college it has always seemed like a
distant dream. I wish to become disciplined and more aware of myself, to pay more
attention to me, and to see the world. I have always loved to travel and explore. I believe
this is my spirit. I wish to never conform. I like being different."
Helen Z. is a 33-year-old computer programmer from Jerusalem, Israel. "I am an
introvert who loves science fiction and cats but hates children and religion freaks. My
ultimate dream is to live in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (as alpha or beta). If the
genie in the wishing stone can't cope with the imaginary worlds, then I wish a complete
personality change in any direction which will make me happy in the environment where
I live."
Diane D. is a 34-year-old owner of a boarding kennel from Kitimat, Canada. "I love
playing games, riding my horse, reading, and television. I wish for peace and quiet (not
much of that in a boarding kennel), that people would really stop and use their brains
more often (including myself), and be honest, and I wish for enough money so I don't
have to keep worrying about it."
Mickie V. is a 35-year-old computer consultant from Cincinnati, Ohio. "I am a divorced
mom whose hobbies are computers, reading, and being with friends. My first wish is that
my children grow up to be happy, strong, self-sufficient adults. My second is to live a
happy life, to be satisfied with what I have and to never take my partner for granted. And
my third wish would always be for three more wishes."
Erika G. is a 35-year-old freelance art director from Chicago, Illinois. "I'm obsessed with
the Internet. My interests include voracious reading, photography, design, sewing, my pet
Dutch rabbits, and redesigning the interior of my condo. I love to travel and have been to
Europe three times. I wish for happiness. I wish for someone (boyfriend/fiancee/lover?)
to love me without squelching me. I wish for more intelligence. I wish for more friends,
and the ability to continue my obsession with international travel."
Erica is a 36-year-old seamstress, period costumer, secretary, and webmistress from
Austin, Texas. "I wish for greater realization of my own personal power, my own house
to decorate and make a home, someone to share it with, and freedom from debt.
J. J. is a 36-year-old psychologist from Australia. "I have applied for a job that will mean
a career change for me. I have been trying to make a shift into this field for some time
now. I want this job very much and feel that if I don't get it this time I will be too old to
apply in the future."
Marlene E. is a 36-year-old mother of two from New Kensington, Pennsylvania. "I never
married for unclear reasons. I truly love the feeling of total independence. My hobbies
outside of my undying love for my computer, are reading, sewing, spirituality, learning,
and teaching others. I yearn for conversations with those on my equal plane. I love
25. unusual puzzles. I wish for wisdom, not just intelligence, but true wisdom. Therein would
lay all the riches a man could ever desire. To know right from wrong is simply not
enough. To understand why we choose right or wrong would be a life's work in itself.
'Wisdom' is such a small word, yet so utterly grand in meaning."
Alice K. is a 36-year-old from Columbus, Ohio. "I am interested in the world wide web,
the X-files, and fractals. I wish for absolute, instant, and correct knowledge of what does
and does not exist, for example, God, UFOs, life after death, anything that cannot
currently be "proven". I also wish for absolute self- knowledge, such as what my actual
limitations are. Then I would wish for the wisdom and enlightenment necessary to both
live in relative peace with the information I've been given, because going insane is not
high on my list. I would teach whatever is needed and wanted by others, if that is the wise
thing to do. Wishes that are far more mundane spring to mind, but if the wishes I've
described were granted me, the mundane wishes would cease to have any importance and
I would no longer desire them, thus there is no need to list even one of them. Wisdom,
truth and knowledge—that's what I want. I would only change me, because only a fool or
God would wish to change the whole world. I wouldn't wish for knowledge of the future.
I want knowledge, but not Godhood, so any change made outside myself could be
unpredictably disastrous. For all I know, the world is just exactly as it's supposed to be.
Possibly I am, too. Too bad the wishing stone is only theoretical!"
Paula G. is a 37-year-old computer programmer from Hyde Park, New York. "I play
fantasy role-playing games, and enjoy sewing crafts, science fiction, fantasy,
paleontology, and raising pet hedgehogs. I wish for better health for my son who has food
intolerances and gastronomic problems, and better health for my husband who has
insomnia and other stress-related problems. I wish for an improvement in the happiness
of my marriage, which is going through a slight slump right now although it's still a good
relationship. I wish for our computer to be properly fixed. I wish for the contractor to
suddenly find time to fix our chimney chase. I wish to win the $15,000 my father-in-law
wants for a down payment on a condo in Florida so he can afford his monthly expenses. I
wish for my husband to find time to go to the travel agent today to arrange our post-
Christmas vacation. I wish that I had in my hand the catalog I was supposed to bring to
work today to order my son's Christmas present. I wish for a referral to a reliable maid
who will clean our house at an affordable price. I wish for peace on Earth—corny and
perhaps impossible, but there are so many people who are suffering and dieing each day
that I can't help including it. I wish for improved tolerance and understanding for people
who are different, by everyone including myself. It seems like so many of our problems
are based on racial, religious, cultural, sexual, and personal style differences. I don't want
those differences to be erased, I just want us all to deal with them more calmly and
empathetically. I wish for the ability to handle the new job I am beginning this week with
competence. I wish for a self-cleaning hedgehog cage. The cage should also be
temperature- controlled to prevent hibernation yet allow us to turn down the heat in the
house at night. I wish to be healed of all my respiratory allergies to pets and dust. I wish
for good ideas for Christmas gifts this year, which will bring joy to the recipients, be
affordable, and not impact our environment too negatively. I wish for safety in the woods
this hunting season for all hunters and for all innocent people that want to go for walks,
26. etc. I wish for some venison. I wish that the Unitarian church we just began attending will
appeal to all of us, sensibly address the questions my son has about God and religion,
entice my husband the agnostic into attending, bring me closer to an understanding of my
own feelings, and involve us in a caring community which encourages us to get involved
and help others. I wish that the gifts I am able to give to charities are well-chosen to do
the most good they can. It's so hard to turn down organizations that sound worthwhile, or
to know whether I'm choosing the most effective or important ones. I wish to develop a
close friend nearby because one of my best friends moved away."
Diana C. is a 38-year-old housewife from Bakersfield, California. She writes, "Life was
good as a mom until I got bored. Now I juggle momness with studies as a re-entry college
student in math and computer science. I enjoy weightlifting, running, cooking, clothes,
traveling, Pete's Wicked Red ale, dark green colors, Siamese cats… My favorite author is
Isaac Asimov. My favorite book is City by Clifford Simak. I recently read all of Anne
Rice's Vampire novels and grew tired of them. Until returning to school this fall, I have
been a full time mom and housewife for 15 years. This has been a varied and interesting
occupation, but I am ready for a major change now that the kids are growing up. Here are
my wishes. I wish I could talk to Pat again. I wish I could go to England to see Claire. I
wish I felt beautiful again. I wish all the Mexicans would speak English. I wish people
wouldn't throw their trash about. I wish it would rain more. I wish for my children to be
happy. I wish my lilies would bloom."
Laura P. is a 39-year-old from Richfield, Minnesota. "After recently dropping out of
corporate America beat-up yet hopeful, I am currently self-employed. I'm in 'transition.'
Who asked, 'It is not enough to be busy, the question is 'What are we busy about?' I'm
struggling to keep a step ahead of my bills while I try to learn this life's lessons well
enough that I don't have to repeat any courses my next time through. I wish for world
peace which can only be achieved when every person has gained inner peace. Inner peace
can only be achieved when every person lives surrounded by a higher love which can
only be achieved when every person opens their hearts to their own ability to love. Some
might say that it's the struggle that keeps people striving forward, but I think that the
'struggle' might limit our ability to see our 'true' potential. A world in which every person
feels at peace and complete would be my ultimate wish."
Ages 40-49
"The dreams of men belong to God." - S. R. Donaldson
Debra C. is a 40-year-old elementary school "lunch lady" from Sebring, Ohio. "I live
with one husband, one kid and five cats. My big dream is to run away with Peter Gabriel
and never have to serve hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes again. I wish my beautiful
daughter would quit committing slow suicide with anorexia."
E. W. is a 41-year-old computer operator from Pace, Florida. "I am fascinated by art,
electronics, mysteries, puzzles, and spirituality. I work as a computer operator and I have
a degree in computer programming. I enjoy traveling and learning new things as long as
27. there is no pressure to make a grade. I wish for a greater understanding of God's purpose
for my life. To be able to hear His voice as clear as those around me. I would like to be
able to provide a comfortable retirement for my mother and to build a nice home for her
which would be close by. I wish to have a nice home for my family and a lot of land with
trees so I could keep the trees. I wish I had an income without having to spend so much
time to get it. Winning the lottery would be nice. I wish I would be able to be thin
without having to constantly struggle with weight loss. I wish for knowledge for my
children, and myself, to be able to learn and understand without the struggle. I wish for
my children to be safe, happy, and to find the perfect companion for their journey
through this world. I wish to be able to paint beautiful pictures. And lastly I pray that my
children will always remain true to God."
K. W. is a 42-year-old from Columbus, Ohio. "I have a B.S. from Ohio State University
in Family Relations and am one-half Greek, one-eight Cherokee, and the rest Irish. I
enjoy gardening, piano, and genealogy. A while ago we befriended a high school
classmate of our son. The boy's mother was killed when he was 6. He now lives with
relatives due to many unfortunate circumstances. I gave birth to one son, but I have 2
boys living in my heart. This young man and I adopted each other. I attended all his
school functions, athletic events, etc. just like my own son's. His relatives forbid any
contact with me or my husband or son; they will send him away from Columbus if he
does. Jealous? They believe our involvement in his life is sick and demented. I haven't
seen the boy for 6 months. My wish would take a miracle. I wish he had free access to
our home. I wish I could go to his games, matches, shows etc. My heart is shattered like a
pane of glass. He'll be 16 soon, but 18 is a life time away."
Tatiana D. is a 42-year-old former Army Ordnance officer from Vienna, Virginia. "I now
surf the web for science site for kids as expiation. Recently, the body of a little girl,
missing 10 days, was discovered, floating in a local river. My wish is one as old as time.
My wish is that every child grows up safe, warm, and loved."
R. M. is a 44-year-old graphic artist from Fort Montgomery, New York. "Solving the
circuitry puzzle on your web page granted me a wish I didn't even know I wanted. This
little stone of achievement worked as a fulcrum to help alleviate a mountain of depression
that I had been experiencing about myself and my abilities, which I had believed to be
deteriorating. The truth was, I had stopped believing in them, so they ceased to exist. The
results of a small wish can outstrip that of a big one."
Marilyn C. is a 44-year-old preschool owner from Provo, Utah. "I am interested in
Danish genealogy, science fiction, family, arts of all kinds, anthropology, family science,
psychology, humor, and informally entertaining. I became a first-time grandmother this
month, graduated with BS in Family Science in 1989, 19 years after high school
graduation. I have worked as a outside-sales person, preschool owner and teacher, 5th
grade teacher's assistant, farmer, video-store owner/manager, and secretary. I belong to
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am a single parent for the last 5 years
and for several years before that. (Brief stint at another marriage didn't work.) I wish for
world peace and safety for all the world's children (from hunger, cold, neglect and abuse,
28. but especially from war). I wish that my children and grandchildren grow up to be
healthy, happy, contributing members of the human family. I wish for a soul-mate of a
husband for me. I wish to have independent income so I could study what I wanted and
make a contribution to the world. I wish for a modest, paid-for home, appliances and cars
that always worked and never needed repair, three best friends within 15 miles of me,
good health without exercise. I wish to overcome my phobia of water. I wish for food
replicators such as those on Star Trek the Next Generation, for a complete end to
pornography of all sorts (but especially child porn), swift (within 3 months) trials and
prosecution of criminals, castration of convicted rapists, capital punishment for convicted
murderers, severe, harsh, and long-lasting punishment for convicted child abusers, severe
penalties for drunk driving, an end to government waste, and honesty, decency, and
kindness everywhere to be more common than tulips in Holland on a spring day. I'd like
to be stronger. I need to stand up for myself and my loved ones better. I wish I didn't need
to sleep, so I could get more done, learn more, help others better. I wish for better health
and for a society that wasn't so materialistic or that didn't worship youth to the exclusion
of wisdom. I wish for better training (and higher priority on "doing it right the first time")
in mate selection, so divorce would be extremely rare. I believe that the world would be a
vastly better place if our children started out in secure environments. People are
ultimately what matters most to me, and relationships are the primary subcategory."
Kitty W. is a 44-year-old writer from Manakin-Sabot, Virgina. "I want money, success,
perfect physical, mental and emotional fitness, and freedom from uncertainty—but I
hesitate to wish for any of them. I grew up reading fairy tales in which wishes backfired
on the wisher and caused distress or worse. There is much truth in those stories. I see so
many people who have some or all of these things and seem to be perfectly miserable. If I
had wishes and knew they would come true, I would wish for joy, love and a sense of
purpose for myself and those whom I love."
Vanessa V. is a 44-year-old artist from Woodland, California. "I was a teen in the 60's
and enjoyed Woodstock, drugs, and free love. I started doing portraits, professionally,
when I was 15 during summers in Atlantic City. I knew I wanted to be an artist, and
thought college wasn't necessary, and I didn't want it to interfere with my creativity. I did
portraits to earn a living and my own art at night until 1981. There was a recession and I
had a toothache and no insurance. I got a temp job working in a bank, filing papers in
numerical order. I did it so well that 11 years later I was an assistant vice president at the
second largest bank in the country, traveling across the country, representing the bank as
a computer analyst, making decisions that affected hundreds of people and earning good
money. I worked 80-hour weeks: no social life, no art. My boss and mentor was the only
person who mattered to me. He determined my worth. I wasn't doing a job. I was the job.
The last thing that he would say to me would determine how I felt about myself until he
spoke again. One day, he decided not to speak to me anymore. He wouldn't tell me why. I
thought that I had disappeared. After six months of this torture, I bought a gun. I was
going to kill myself because I couldn't go to work anymore and I couldn't not go. I saw a
psychologist during this time, and after 4 years on medication and therapy and 4 stays in
psych wards, and several suicide attempts (one where I took 120 xanax at my desk at
work and left on a stretcher), I, now, am starting to believe that there are things in life
29. that I enjoy. I have a fiancee. Last year, he said that he loved me. It was the first time I
had ever heard 'I love you' from a man that I wasn't having sex with at the time. We
rented a house (another first) and I finally have a dog that I love more than I ever
expected. I attribute this success to my doctor. I was very lucky. I also paint ceramics and
do gardening. Thank you for letting me vent. You look like a professor that I knew 20
years ago and some of the things that you quoted or said on your web page made me want
to tell you all of this. Finally, my wishes. I wish for continuous peace of mind. I wish for
peace of mind for my fiancee. I wish that I could create everything in my mind."
Lynne E. is a 44-year-old billboard painter, advertising and graphics designer, and
"antique store slave" from Greensboro, North Carolina. "My interests are reading,
photography, art, computer art, fractals, gardening, and giving the native 'silk' moths a
helping hand in replenishing their populations. I have a disability now. I volunteer at a
local college radio station. I wish for everyone to realize they are all factions of the
creator and to realize that the world is actually a part of themselves and stop destroying it
in the name of 'progress'. I wish people accept one another as they are, and cherish the
uniqueness of people they meet in their journey through this life and the ones to come. I
wish for a safe cure for AIDS. Why such wishes? I was raised by 'pagans' (actually pre-
religion native Europeans). My wish for a safe cure for AIDS comes from involvement in
the tainted factor scandal in the hemophilia community. My husband is a hemophiliac,
one of the lucky ones who did not get a 'loaded' bottle, but many of his friends did, and
seeing so many of the hemophilia community sick or pass on has influenced our lives
considerably. I am an activist, helping to bring forth a settlement with the responsible
pharmaceutical companies, and also 'bothering' our government to bring the FDA to the
floor via some legislation. The monetary compensation from both sources would not
replace the lives that have been lost or ruined, but it would help eliminate the outright
poverty most of these people have to live with. How many Einsteins, Davincis, etc. have
we lost? Sadly, the United States is late in settling these issues. (Consider the recent
settlement in Japan for hemophiliacs.) It is a shame we cannot rewind the tape, as we do
on our VCR, and start the movie all over again and edit the tape with answers when it
gets to the part where things went wrong."
Jo W. is a 45-year-old administrator from Indianapolis, Indiana. "I am married for 18
years and a mother of two children. I am employed by a state government regulatory
agency as an Administrative Director which means I assist the agency head in the
administrative function of the office. I enjoy helping others make decisions. I like to mind
my own business and resent others interfering in mine. I like drama, dance, music and
writing. I like designing costumes and props. I wish that I could be financially
independent so that money worries didn't take up so much of my energy. Then I would be
able to give my children what they want, let my husband go into a business he enjoys,
and I could travel and tan on warm, sandy beaches. I wish I could ride a horse on the
beach. I wish I could have a personal trainer and time to train and eat right so that at 45 I
would look and feel like I did when I was 20, but would be much smarter than I was then.
I wish I could sing and dance and perform in theater. I wish I could be happy, and
carefree, and laugh and love."
30. Suzy J. is a 46-year-old from Felton, Pennsylvania. "My interests include reading,
writing, computers, travel. I wish that my children could find fulfillment in their lives."
Laura I. is a 46-year-old from West Valley, Utah. "I'm interested in photography,
computers, web surfing, people, painting ceramics, and collecting unicorns and angels. I
used to work Napa, a large corporation, in their accounts payables office. But after
getting breast cancer they fired me—nice people. I was doing data entry from my home
PC until I found out my cancer had metastized to my bones. Now I'm working at saving
my life. After I've done that I hope to start my own business with a little help from my
web site… I wish for a miracle cure for all disease. I wish that all people be awakened to
the source and oneness of the universe and God. I wish that all people would learn to love
one another and quit doing harm to one another. I wish I knew how the applet on your
web page works. Most people don't take the time to smell the roses, and they spend too
much time worrying about the small stuff."
Marilyn Q. is a 48-year-old teacher from Shawville, Quebec, Canada who is "addicted" to
her computer and the Internet. "I wish to win at least $1,000,000.00 as soon as possible."
Lori U. is a 45-year-old computer systems administrator from Sherman Oaks, California.
"I am a computer geek and UNIX/Network systems administrator. I like movies,
outdoors, the beach, music, shopping, and women. I'm a woman who happens to be a
male-to-female transsexual. I have a dead serious wish; I hope it's not too much for you!
A transsexual's dream.... As long as I can remember I've always wished that I could be a
female. There hasn't been a night in my life that I haven't gone to bed wishing that I
would wake up as a beautiful female. Living my previous 40 years as a man, I've always
viewed woman with the utmost admiration and always found myself wishing I could be
one of them. I started a gender reassignment program almost five yeas ago. I've been
living as a woman ever since. Most of my wishes are related to this primary wish. For
example, I wish I had money to finish the procedure, for cosmetic surgery, breast
implants, clothes, etc. I also wish I were a successful business woman. I wish I have
enough money to make sure my 14-year-old daughter will live a comfortable life and
have everything she needs. I wish I could live a longer life."
Joanne P. is a 46-year-old computer security expert from La Honda, California. "I am a
Beatlemaniac and Deadhead with a degree in studio art and an MBA. I work in computer
center doing computer security, disaster recovery, audits, etc. I wish for world peace: an
end to bombs, killing, war, spying, hatred. Tolerance! I wish people would love their
fellow man—and woman, and minorities, and gays, and..... I wish for financial solvency
for my family, and maybe a little extra so I can have a bigger house to fill up with junk. I
wish for a long, fruitful, and happy life for myself, my loved ones, and you too."
Gail P. is a 47-year-old from New York, New York. "I think I am a distant relative of
yours. My grandparents were the late Isidore and Ethel Pickover of Manhattan and then
of the Bronx. I wish I could connect the family tree. I wish to find out if there are any
relatives out there I do not know about. When I was growing up there were very few
31. Pickovers. Now I find 26 Pickovers in the USA Telephone Guide in Netscape. I wish to
find out if we are related."
Rosalie B. is a 47-year-old systems-applications expert from an undisclosed location. "I
have worked for the same company for 25 years. I love fantasy books and art fantasy
books. Favorite authors are J. R. Toklein and James C. Christensen. I wish to visit Egypt
and Africa and various ancient ruins. I wish the removal of the HIV virus for all time
because too many friends and love ones have left. I wish the health and well being of all
my children. I wish for a job that I really love because mine is merging with another and
quite a few of us will not have jobs by middle of next year. I have worked for the
company 25 years, and job comfortability is now very important wherever I will next
work. My goal is to leave at the end of the day feeling I have done a good job and helped
someone."
Barb P. is a 47-year-old from Romney, West Virginia. "I take care of my father who has
Alzheimer's, a husband who is a workaholic, and 6 cats, 2 dogs, and a huge house, and I
play with the Internet and computer games. I wish to find a cure for Alzheimer's before I
lose my father to this disease for which there is no hope at the present. I wish to have a
car of my own, to return to college to study medicine and have a job outside my home
after my father has passed on. I wish to be able to talk to my mother again. I wish to learn
just enough in my life to be happy and show other that the happiness is from within and
not from 'things' or other people."
Ages 50-59
"To have access to all knowledge of all things would eliminate the one faculty
which I prize above all others—curiosity. This happens to also be the primary
reason that I am an atheist. I would hate to believe that any entity would be
incapable of experiencing wonder. If I am wrong, I sincerely pity 'god'." - 52-
year-old respondent Susan B.
Egg P. is a 52-year-old from Mississippi. "I love flowers. I wish for happiness for
someone I will identify as 'B. S.'. I wish for a true love for my son and my daughter,
patience and acceptance for myself, and the abolishment of racism."
Penny H. is a 52-year-old computer programmer from San Francisco, California. "I am
an aging 60s hippie, techno-nerd, astrologer, crystal healer, and medicine woman. I make
my living doing computer programming now, and I plan to move primarily into healing
work. I wish for peace with love for all of the beings of our planet as well as peace with
all of the universe."
Susan B. is a 52-year-old Associate Professor of Art. "I am interested in scientific
reading, thinking, and creating (that is, 'discovering' since I don't believe in concept of
'creativity'). I am most proud of an art installation called "The Goddess Namagiri Moved
Through Ramanujan" which consists of three-dimensional representations of a barely
visible barrier penetrated by unknown forces. This is one of a series of projects in
32. 'creative' thinking initially designed for students at the college where I have taught for 31
years. I wish to be a master of all current knowledge and understanding of mathematics
and physics because I enjoy playing with relationships between these subjects and art.
However, to have access to all knowledge of all things would eliminate the one faculty
which I prize above all others—curiosity. This happens to also be the primary reason that
I am an atheist. I would hate to believe that any entity would be incapable of
experiencing wonder. If I am wrong, I sincerely pity "god". My second wish is to be a
true synesthete. I'd like to feel colors, to hear shapes, and to taste sounds, because I
believe that the greatest enlightenment comes, not from analysis, but from synthesis. I
wish to be a better teacher, to be able to transmit the joy of "seeking" to each of my
students. Because I believe that, beyond the necessities of life such as adequate food and
shelter, the only requirement for fulfillment as a human being is the capacity to
experience the joy of discovery and the knowledge that this is perhaps the only constantly
replenishable resource of our species on this planet."
Susan K. is a 54-year-old from Manor, Texas. Her hobbies include amateur radio,
gardening, knitting, and correcting grammar errors in other people's writing. "I wish for
good health and painless death, eventually, for my elderly mother and mother-in-law.
They are each terrified of nursing home neglect, painful old age, senility, Alzheimers, etc.
I wish them each grace, peace and comfort. I'm not trying to hurry them out of life, I want
them to have peace along the journey. I wish for a happy future for my granddaughter.
She's fatherless; her mother is immature, feckless, fetid, and fecund. The child deserves
better parents. I wish for affordable retirement. We've worked for many years. We'd like
some time to relax between worrying about the first two wishes. Finally, I wish travel for
me and for my husband."
Barbara B. is a 54-year-old artist from Boulder, Colorado. "I'm a one- person Department
of Communications in the Bursar's Office at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I do
our web page, publications, and e-mail correspondence. I'm an artist doing mostly
commissioned portraits of animals and people. Creativity is a very important aspect of
my life. Other people's art is a great source of energy and inspiration to me. I'm intent on
treading as lightly as possible on this earth (by 'consuming' wisely, recycling, etc.) I wish
to be a great role-model for my 5 year old granddaughter. I'm about to turn 55 and plan to
celebrate! I love the idea of being 55. It's a freeing feeling! I'll continue evolving, I hope,
for ever! I believe this life is made up of lessons that we choose to learn or ignore. I'm at
a place in my life where my lessons are becoming pretty clear, so my wishes relate to
easing the path I'm on—not taking away the lessons, but allowing for some freedom.
First, I wish for enough financial security that my family and I will never have to worry
about finances again! A big part of this security involves providing education and care for
my 10-year-old granddaughter who is autistic. Selfish things would include redoing my
house and yard just the way I would like it. Financial security would provide the means
to support social and environmental causes. I would own a wonderful adobe home in
New Mexico! I also wish for a physically healthy and fit body, the ability to always be in
the moment, and to feel joy often. I would like this to be bottled so I could give it to my
sons, other family members, and friends."
33. Carolyn Z. is a 55-year-old from Danville, Illinois. "I wish for whatever comes next, as
well as common sense, and good memory. Experience has hopefully taught me
something. And most of all I wish for humor and a healthy attitude. Some of the best
opportunities I have had come from situations for which I certainly would never have
wished. I am writing my life history, for my use only, and just starting to realize what a
wonderful life I've had. While I wouldn't want to live it over exactly the same way, I'm
glad I lived it once. I've never been bored. I look forward to being a curmongon (or
curomogonette) for quite a few years to come. I have my own positive meaning for the
word. Life's too important to be taken seriously. I don't make wishes for others; they can
get in trouble all by themselves."
Above 60
"The forest leans into the man's sleep. It cannot, dream for itself." - Rosanna
Warren, "The Field"
Kari R. is a 65-year-old retired management law-firm consultant from Australia. "I am a
recent widow with interests in bridge, computers, inventing new age sciences, breeding
Shih Tzus, reading palms, tarot, and public speaking. I wish for the return to the world of
this centuries' great men, young again and able to do for the next century what they did
for this one. I nominate Bucky Fuller, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Hutchins and
Herbert Hoover."
Ruth R. is a 90-year old retired school teacher from Minnesota. "Something frightening is
happening to the frogs in south-central Minnesota. They are born with missing legs,
withered arms, and shrunken eyes. I wish to know what this all means. Does it mean the
water supply is dangerous for people?"
Chapter 9. The Wishes - Male
Ages Under 10
"I wish that reality would just melt away, and sunlight would come streaming
through the dark and dreary gray I wish that mountains would grow right under
my feet and fairies and dragons I would meet." - Evie Bohanan, an 11-year-old
from Ryan Middle School
Alan P. is a 9-year-old from Yorktown Heights, New York. "I'm interested in video
games and basketball. I wish for a quintillion dollars. I wish I was the healthiest boy in
the world. I wish I was the smartest person in the world. I wish I was the fastest runner in
the world and the best at sports. I wish I had magical powers so I could turn anybody into
anything, and so I could shoot fire out of my hands."
34. Ben is a 9-year-old from Peekskill, New York. "I wish for my own jet-powered train, a
personal body guard, peace, and I wish that everyone has enough money to buy a home."
Adam C. is a 9-year-old from Millwood, New York. "I wish for Christmas every day."
Ages 10-19
"My single wish would be that the big answers, if they exist at all, might never be
found. To live in a world with no curiosity and no ignorance is to live in a world
with no hope, and true happiness comes from hope." - 17-year-old respondent
Jeff K.
Dan D. is a 13-year-old from Adrian (state not specified). "I love playing with clay. My
wish is to be a clay thing that can do anything!"
D. W. is a 15-year-old high school student from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "I swim
competitively. I like computers. I belong to an elite clique of nerds at my high school,
and in by spare time, I like to stare at cracks in the wall and wonder how they got there. I
wish I could manipulate people's bodies and minds to make them do whatever I please or
make them believe whatever I please, or make them even see whatever I please. Please?"
Tom F. is a 15-year-old from Broadalbin, New York. "I'm quite a bit smarter than most
kids, but other than that, I'm just an ordinary, run of the mill teenager. I wish I could do
anything."
Ryan B. is a 15-year-old from Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. "I am interested in the
paranormal, parapsychology, and art. I wish for powers of telepathy, psychokenisis, and
magic because they would better my life and others."
Bernardo V. is a 16-year-old from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. "I love physics and artificial
intelligence programming. I think that all human beings should be equal, but without
knowing it. With the same desires, our lives would be much easier although not
necessarily better. I also think that the human nature should be more constrained. We
would have no deceptions at all. I wish to know who created god, is there a theory of
everything, and if it's true that the things would function better on Earth if the human race
hadn't existed".
Jeff K. is a 17-year-old college student from Cleveland, Ohio. "I am an undergraduate
physicist/musician at Case Western Reserve University. People are continuously striving
to find answers—answers to social, medical and economic problems, the meaning of
God, the meaning of life, etc. My single wish would be that the big answers, if they exist
at all, might never be found. To live in a world with no curiosity and no ignorance is to
live in a world with no hope, and true happiness comes from hope."
Nathaniel C. is a 17-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia. "I am very much into Beat
writing, especially Allen Ginsberg. I have one wish. I wish that people everywhere could
