A man is walking along the beach in California when he finds an old brass lamp lying in the sand. Figuring he’s got nothing to lose, picks up the lamp and gives it a rub.
Sure enough, a genie pops out. The man starts to get excited, but the genie stops him and says, ‘Look pal, I’ve been in the wish-granting game for thousands of years. Frankly, I’m a little sick of it - you get ONE wish, so make it count.’
The man thinks hard for a few minutes and says, ‘Well, I’ve always wanted to visit Hawaii, but I’m pathologically afraid of flying. My wish is for a bridge across the Pacific so I could drive over there.’
The genie almost collapses with laughter. ‘Impossible! Not only are the logistics out of the question, but such a structure would change the ocean currents, killing off countless species and devastating weather patterns for half the world. Pick something else.’
This time, the man has a good, long think. At last, he says, ‘I’ve been married and divorced four times. All of my wives said that I was emotionally distant and never really “connected” with them. So my wish is to truly understand women, to be able to know what they mean beyond the words that they say, and to understand and empathize with them at the deepest possible level.’
And the genie says, ‘You want that bridge two lanes or four?’
Boru
Sure enough, a genie pops out. The man starts to get excited, but the genie stops him and says, ‘Look pal, I’ve been in the wish-granting game for thousands of years. Frankly, I’m a little sick of it - you get ONE wish, so make it count.’
The man thinks hard for a few minutes and says, ‘Well, I’ve always wanted to visit Hawaii, but I’m pathologically afraid of flying. My wish is for a bridge across the Pacific so I could drive over there.’
The genie almost collapses with laughter. ‘Impossible! Not only are the logistics out of the question, but such a structure would change the ocean currents, killing off countless species and devastating weather patterns for half the world. Pick something else.’
This time, the man has a good, long think. At last, he says, ‘I’ve been married and divorced four times. All of my wives said that I was emotionally distant and never really “connected” with them. So my wish is to truly understand women, to be able to know what they mean beyond the words that they say, and to understand and empathize with them at the deepest possible level.’
And the genie says, ‘You want that bridge two lanes or four?’
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson