It is not as easy as it sounds.
I use DayOne to keep a journal. It has a daily prompt that I usually ignore. I always have too much to write about. But today’s prompt caught my attention:
What would you wish for if you could wish for anything that would not benefit you?
That seemed easy at first. Then, I thought about it.
Not so easy.
World peace? How would that not benefit me?
Wish that all refugees will be safe and secure? All the changes that would have to take place in the world would have the same effect as world peace.
Wish for a social safety net that would mean there were no more hungry or homeless people? Imagine how much good would be unleashed in the world if the people who are scrambling every day to just stay alive could be free to work on their relationships with others, figure out productive ways to contribute to the community, unleash their creativity. How would that not eventually be good for me?
How about wishing that the fish in the sea were safe from pollution and climate change? Isn’t that far enough from my personal interests to be completely unselfish? But, the environmental changes would eventually mean the air also was clean enough to benefit my damaged lungs.
This got me really scratching my head. What could I wish for that would not benefit me?
I finally came up with a few.
I could wish:
- That rich people would not have to pay taxes.
- That Jeff Bezos will make another billion dollars this week.
- That I will win the lottery. (Can you imagine the headaches that would create?)
I guess, if a genie ever offers me this deal, I’ll have to shake my head and tell him he might as well get back inside his magic lamp and wait for someone smarter than me to come along.
Roger, thank you so much for this. Such a wonderful reading for January 2, 2021. But thank you even more for the writing that you did in 2018 when you left Cleveland. I just discovered it while reading today’s post. Im in LA with my mother and father. My mother had a mini struck and Im realizing I’m going to have to say goodbye to the old future and say hello to the new one when it comes to my family, meaning my mother, father and brother. The way you framed this concept really spoke to me and gave me comfort. Im also realizing that it is time to let go of a lot stuff that still resides in my childhood bedroom. Time to let go of that past so that we can all be more comfortable in our new future. Just wanted to thank you for writing that post!
Best,
Rhoda
This touched me. Thank you for writing it. Hope your mother recovers her full health and that you will clearly see the next step you will have to take.
A rich NBA star defended his salary by saying, “Hey, we spend more.”
Put the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna on your list; they just made billions on the vaccine.
I, like you, never played the lottery. I thought it just might mess me up for the rest of my life.
Happy New Year!