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The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains:
Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.
The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn’t wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like “I wish there wasn’t so much litter in the park,” “I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings,” and “I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.”
If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.
The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn’t wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like “I wish there wasn’t so much litter in the park,” “I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings,” and “I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.”
If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.
Mahari had taken several of her nieces and nephews out to do some shopping, because she had to do some shopping but also needed to babysit at the same time, so she’d done her best to combine the two tasks. It had led to her buying more than he’d planned, having to get things for the younger members of her family, and the shopping trip had taken longer than planned but while walking towards the parking garage where her car was parked it was one of her nieces who pointed out the wishing tree.
It was decorated with many bits of paper, lights and other ornaments, people had been taking wishes off the tree and leaving wishes in return. It was Laila, a daughter of one of her older brothers, who tugged on her sleeve whilst asking to go pull some wishes down so they could make wishes come true for other people in the city. The request garnered attention from the others she was watching over, as they all started agreeing and asking to go over to the tree as well. Agreeing, after getting them to quiet down, Mahari headed herself and the group towards the tree. “Alright, look over the wishes you pick, make sure it’s something you can fulfill.” She spoke softly, letting them all go about looking over things then.
They should, she felt, pick something they could fulfill rather than just picking something for the sake of grabbing a wish. While keeping her eyes on her nieces and nephews Mahari started looking over the wishes as well before picking one for herself to fulfill. She would do her best to fulfill the wish, it was a simple enough one really, it just wanted a small park in the city cleaned up of litter. That she could do - she was certain of it. It would take time, and she might even try and gather some people to help her with the task, but she’d get it done one way or another.
Pocketing her slip of paper Mahari was not surprised when her nieces and nephews returned to her side each with a slip of paper, which she took to look over, after making sure each wish they’d grabbed was something they could each achieve she handed them back while leading them over to fill out their own slips of paper - helping them with spelling things if they needed it.
Once the wishes were written down Mahari helped them tie the wishes to the trees branches, all grouped together; she was proud of them. They’d all written things which were possible for a person to fulfill, or at least help with achieving, such as cleaning up the beach or visiting the pets in one of the local shelters. They were all pretty easy things and yet she also saw how they were all things which benefited others…from the community at large to the homeless animals living in the shelters.
“Alright, now let’s get going. I think we’ve had a busy day and you’ve hung your wishes as well.” She spoke, smiling softly as she moved to usher the children off towards the parking garage.
Word Count: 527
