Bertram's Blog

I’ve never been one for wishful thinking. It seemed more important to deal with what is rather than what I wished it to be, but lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about wishes.

It all started with a box that needed something to cover up a label I didn’t like, and I found a birthday card someone had sent me last year telling me to make a wish. Into this wish box, I put all the New Year’s wishes people sent me and the Neil Gaiman quote a friend made me pinky promise to follow (“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself). I also included a few of my own wishes, such as “selling thousands of copies of Bob, The Right Hand of God,” and a fabulous wish I found in a an old novel, “Something that I can be, but haven’t thought of yet.”

As I think of other wishes, and as other people send me wishes, I’ll add them to the box. It somehow seems that everyone should have a box of wishes, not necessarily to do anything with, but to put aside and save.

The old origami calendar I have that miraculously has become current, has reawakened in me an interest in origami, which also pertains to the whole wish thing. Supposedly, there is a Japanese legend that if a person folds a thousand origami cranes, either one wish will come true, or the person will have eternal good luck. (A single crane is called an orizuru; 1000 cranes is a senbazuru.)

It makes sense, actually — all that folding and concentrating one’s thoughts on the crane and the wish would seem a form of meditation, though traditionally, folding the crane was art, not so much meditation. It’s only in modern times that the two have been connected into what is known as mind-fold-ness. (Cute, huh?) It’s also makes sense that the origami crane is a symbol of peace and harmony, because if you are folding 1000 cranes, you are not out and about creating mayhem.

I’m thinking of doing a senbazuru — after all, that is only one crane a day for 1000 days. I’m already doing a one-card tarot study every day and writing a blog every day. It’s certainly no hardship to add another quick one-a-day project. The main problem comes in what to do with all those cranes. Is it the creation of them that creates the good luck or is the preponderance of the cranes themselves that draws luck to the folder? If the former, I could send them to an organization that is trying to do a senbazuru for a special intention (such as a cure for cancer). If not, I’ll just pack them away and then, figure it out three years from now.

Meantime, I’ll share one of my wishes with you: Wishing you peace and joy and all the good things of life.

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“I am Bob, the Right Hand of God. As part of the galactic renewal program, God has accepted an offer from a development company on the planet Xerxes to turn Earth into a theme park. Not even God can stop progress, but to tell the truth, He’s glad of the change. He’s never been satisfied with Earth. For one thing, there are too many humans on it. He’s decided to eliminate anyone who isn’t nice, and because He’s God, He knows who you are; you can’t talk your way out of it as you humans normally do.”

Click here to buy Bob, The Right Hand of God.