Wayward One

“Have faith little one ‘til your hopes and your wishes come true. You must try to be brave.”

When I was a small child, I used to wish on the first snowfall.

I also wished on stars, birthday candles, dandellions, lamps of any kind (just in case a genie lived in one) and even sometimes when the clock struck 12:34. I was always enchanted by the idea that there was some magical entity that would hear my sad little plea and somehow rectify the thing that was bothering me so that I would have everything I had ever wanted.

Sometimes, I still catch myself wishing on the stars that I love so much in the hopes that perhaps they’re listening and love me as much as I love them and somehow make the things I want happen so everything will be okay. It’s strange, but we all do it. We all still wish on birthday candles, dandellions etc. Why? Maybe because despite our rational understanding that it’s simply a child’s game, we secretly hope that there is still magic in the world.

We spend so much time trying to rationalize the things that we do, the mistakes that we make, the stupid choices that we make and the stupid ones we continue to make in the hopes that we can finally feel good about them. But a friend of mine has always reminded me that our true desires come when we’re thinking by ourselves. Our truest desires come from a fleeting thought, that will take us to the thing we want most of all. Whether it’s looking for something we claim to have left in the past, or going somewhere we claim we do not go. Perhaps that’s where wishes come from, that subconscious desire to have something, the thing we only seek out in fleeting thoughts, fleeting, frequent thoughts that make us search for the thing we need most of all.

So, why not keep wishing on stars, snowflakes, candles and dandellions? Why not allow yourself that momentary moment of belief that magic is there? Perhaps we let go of whimsy and wonder too soon and that’s why as adults we struggle to find our way and make so many poor choices and we end up lost, asking ourselves what if for things that have long gone instead of simply making our wishes come true by acknowledging the fleeting thoughts and making them reality. After all, stars can help us so far, but sometimes we need to act.

But for those who truly believe in magic and wonder, hold fast to those wishes and be patient. For perhaps we truly can make our wishes come true. We just have to remember that faith means blindly walking to one’s own destruction, belief is the hope that it won’t happen and tenacity is the knowledge that you will survive.