sharing wishes

the following are excerpts from the winter 0’five/0’six issue of colors magazine.

“i wish i had a machine that could make money.”
qing yan, twenty
prostitute, panyu, china

“i wish to be found.”
irwin cruz, thirty
journalist, madrid, spain

“papa beats me when i do something wrong. i wish he were more kind.”
jubel tamang, five
student, kathmandu, nepal

“if i could have both my hands back, i would be satisfied with that. my hands were chopped off at the very start of the war. i was the very first casualty of the war. after my hands were chopped off, i was sent back to freetown to give the message to the government.”
tamba ngaujah, forty-four
ex-soldier, freetown, sierra leone

“i wish that during our adult life we all had to experience one year minimum as a member of the opposite sex.”
ania jones, thirty-seven
office administrator, warsaw, poland

“i wish that major pharmaceutical groups were non-profit organizations.”
anne toulmonde, twenty-four
communication assistant, paris, france

“i live in a land of contrasts, where more than fifty percent of the population lives on less than u.s. one dollar a day, in a country that has the biggest market for mercedes benz cars. i wish for equality and compassion. equality in which people are more important than tribes, races and religion. compassion through which all people, regardless of differences, care about others and work toward improving the life of all.”
david hiscox, forty-four
managing director, nairobi, kenya

“i want to have sex with at least two girls from every tribe in uganda. so far i have covered about fifty-eight percent of them. after that i will consider myself a hero.”
chapman mutego, twenty-nine
male sex worker, busoga jinja, uganda

“i wish to take on another man’s color.”
alexandre calaque, thirty-two
poet, ile d’oleron, france
died in a car accident, november ‘05

“my wish isn’t so altruistic. i wish for a cure for aids so i wouldn’t already have three strikes against me when i’m dating.”
davide, thirty-nine
college professor, rome, italy
hiv positive for fourteen years

at first glance, one might see many differences between the types of people represented by these wishes. and isn’t it interesting how we tend to identify with those who speak words we agree with and then distance ourselves from those who speak words that we don’t. but it’s not really about the wishes. it’s about what these individuals believe that the wishes will bring – value, attention, love, wholeness, understanding, selflessness, justice, accomplishment, experience, and acceptance. and in that case, i can relate to all of these folks. the methods of achievement may be different, but the desires are the same.

i’m learning that judgment lives on the surface, while compassion lives in the depths. and that makes me want to go deeper with others. i want to plunge into the lives of those i encounter. to see past their wishes and to recognize their desires. and i want to plunge into my own life as well – to stop being so hard on myself. and to discover the real desires that are hiding beneath the surface.