The Gin

One day I was walking alone on the beach
when I saw an old lamp lying on the sand.
It was damp and dirty from being washed to shore by the tide and left to partially dry out in the sun.

So I picked it up and began to wipe it clean when
smoke started to pour from it's spout.
I was stunned.

The whitish smoke formed a large cloud,
and proceeded to change shape in front of my eyes.

As I watched in amazement at this instantaneous metamorphosis I began to realise that the smoke was taking a human form.

There before me stood a man with a gentle face and a welcoming smile.
He bowed to me and told me he was a Gin and had been locked inside the lamp for a thousand years.

He was so grateful that I had broken the spell which had set him free from his tiny enclosure that he offered me three wishes and a word of advice.

He asked me to think very carefully what I wished for because sometimes when you wish for something, you realise that you didn't really need it or want it and your life would have been better off without it.

So I pondered very carefully on his words and made my decision.

My first wish was to go back to the start of my life and take back everything I had ever said that hurt anyone.

My second wish was to correct any mistakes I had ever made in my life.

Then I waited and I thought very hard about what I had just wished for.

My third wish was to unwish my second wish.

The Gin asked me why I had decided to unwish what I had just wished for.

My answer was simple.
I had wished too hastily.

The mistakes I have made in my life, and there have been many, have been life's lessons.
We all learn by experience and we need to make mistakes - how else are we supposed to know it was a wrong choice otherwise?

Don't be too judgemental with yourself or others.
We are all after all only human.
And are still learning!