June 10, 2009
June 2, 2009
Reckless wishes.
I saw a TV show, when I was a kid, in which a man was given three wishes, but he didn't know it. The first three things he wished for, he got. He didn't catch on until he'd made all three and they were all goofy -- like a good golf game or a good hair day.
I was reminded of this the other day when I made a rash wish of my own. I quit smoking about two years ago and I wished, as I was walking, that I could see what my lungs look like now. (I am curious.) Then I imagined how I'd look with a transparent torso and I remembered that TV show -- what if my wish had been granted? I feel like I dodged a bullet.
No more reckless wishes. Better to be careful.
In this spirit, here are a few things that could each be a respectable summer wish.
I was reminded of this the other day when I made a rash wish of my own. I quit smoking about two years ago and I wished, as I was walking, that I could see what my lungs look like now. (I am curious.) Then I imagined how I'd look with a transparent torso and I remembered that TV show -- what if my wish had been granted? I feel like I dodged a bullet.
No more reckless wishes. Better to be careful.
In this spirit, here are a few things that could each be a respectable summer wish.
Deep, not wide.
It was Balzac's birthday last week, and we were reminded of a quote of his: "I am not deep, but I am wide." He wrote about a hundred novels before his death in 1850. He was 51.
Jack Straw is the inverse of that. We're not wide, but deep. We don't carry a lot of collections, just a few big names and a few little names. We choose what to carry very carefully.
Jack Straw is the inverse of that. We're not wide, but deep. We don't carry a lot of collections, just a few big names and a few little names. We choose what to carry very carefully.
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