Be Careful What You Wish For.--- A Dimple Tale.

Have you ever wished for something and it came true? I have had many wishes in my life. I had one wish that I almost wished I could have undone. Have you ever wished you could have dimples?

As a child, I was fascinated with dimples, well actually I still do. My best friend Susan had the deepest dimples in the whole wide world and the whole school swooned whenever she smiled. When she was chosen to play the little princess in our school play ‘Princess and The Frog’, I was convinced that the non existence of dimples stood between me and super stardom.

I spent many nights sitting in front of the mirror with pencils stuck in my cheeks, hoping that they leave behind dimples. I tried smiling by sucking my cheeks in, I tried poking fingers into my cheeks when smiling, I tried praying to God and asking for dimples but nothing seemed to work.

Not the one to give up easily, I kept looking for ways that would get me my prized dimples. Hope came in the way of Aunty Suzana, my mom’s best friend. Aunty Suzana had an unnatural dimple which was formed when she fell on a pointy rock as a child. Her dimple was different. It didn’t come up when she smiled. It was always there. That was the best, most amazing dimple ever. That dimple would put Susan’s dimple’s to shame. And I wanted it.

After several unsuccessful attempts at finding a pointy rock, I had a brainwave. Picking up a pair of scissors, I marched into my room and with all the precision my trembling hands could manage, I snipped a tiny cut into my right cheek. The fountain of blood that started pouring out freaked me and I went running back to mom who took me to the doctor. That week was filled with loads of lectures from the elders and wide eyed stares of respect from my cousins. 

Despite of the pain, I slept soundly, proud that I finally had the perfect dimple.

Three years has passed, and the dimple (or to be really honest, the tiny dent)  has faded away. This is my brother’s favorite  story, the one he usually narrates to embarrass me. I, on the other hand, keep praying for some miracle which will get me that coveted dimple. 

Well, this are the type of wishes that harm only the one wishing. There are types of wishes that simply happens to harm those near and dear. Those are the worst type of wishes. Again, the worst type of wishes, the ones  that harm others, and then begins to haunt you down. Unfortunately, most of our life time, our wishes are  categorized as the worst type of wishes.

Let’s see what brings us to make those worst type wishes. We, the-not-so-perfect human beings, often get too annoyed with certain people and grow hatred towards them for some reasons be it real or nonsensical. With unbearable level of annoyance, we begin to say nasty silent wishes to ourselves. Despite them being a family member or even a close friend, we begin to lose our temper and most of all, we even lose our mind when the level of annoyance becomes unbearable.

We sometimes fail to remind ourselves of what not to wish for. Or maybe even we fail to remind that wishes do come true be it good or bad. It just happens. Sometime we wish them ill. We wish the worst things to happen to them. This includes of wishing for them to fail a test, break up with their boyfriend/girlfriend, have a family crisis, meet an accident, lose all their friends, anything bad. Just because our not-very-perfect-mind  feel that “they deserve it”. We even have a silent talk to ourselves don’t we?  “They get everything they want anyway, it’s time for them to feel some real pain.” Mean much?

Unfortunately everything you wished for turns out to be true. Accidents. One after another takes place. But then when it actually happens, when they do fail a test or have a family crisis or lose all their friends, everything suddenly changes. Even you who wished them bad all this while, begin to worry.

You begin to be sorry about it. You regret over and over again. But sometimes, things just won’t be alright anymore. What is the reason for this? To have a tendency for positivity?  Are we just naturally happier when other people are facing hurdles? Or is it the other way round? Do we get happiness from seeing other people’s successes, and do we feel defeated when we see others fail? There are conflicting viewpoints on this topic.

 A well known Hollywood celebrity once quoted, “I would never wish bad things, but I don’t wish you well.”  Well, what if that person you are talking about lost his job and all his friends the next day? Would you feel good about yourself? Would you feel that that is an accomplishment on your part, or would you feel sad that you were hoping for his demise?  On another note, an English singer, sung, “I lick the gun when I’m done, cause I know that revenge is sweet.”  I’m not proving myself as a self-proclaimed critic nor a hypocrite here, but can you actually be happy with committing an act of revenge that significantly harms the other person?

I came up with a maxim to live parts of my life that the best revenge is one not taken. It is difficult to follow, but it is something I will strive to do always in the face of adversity, even if I may not always overcome my will to wish ill toward others. 

  

I know— I know that really no one deserves to be bad wished upon. I also learned, that bad wished are made in moments of anger, simple rhetoric running through ones head. I promise you, the last thing you ever wouldn’t want it to happen is for you to wish bad things upon a person and for it to actually happen. Just be careful what you wish for, because you might get it all. 

PS: I wrote this out for an essay competition organized The Star Newspaper. Hoping to receive a news soon! :D