new bridge and the new wall
began to think less and less about what they had once been and more
and more about the task they currently had to do, until eventually
it became impossible for anyone to tell that the new wall had once
been a bridge or that the new bridge had once been a wall.

"How indiscriminate and common you are," the new wall would often
tell the new bridge.

"And how inflexible and repressive you are," the new bridge
would reply.

The Wish

While walking along the beach one day, a man spotted an old,
barnacle-covered object which on closer examination he discovered to
be an ancient bronze oil lamp. "Hah! Aladdin's lamp," he thought,
jokingly. "I'll rub it." To his surprise, when he did rub it, a
genie appeared.

"Okay, Bud," said the genie, in a remarkably bored tone. "You have
one wish--anything you want. What is it?"

"Money," the man said instantly, his eyes widening. "Yes! Endless
money. Riches! Wealth! Ha! Ha! Huge, massive, obscene wealth!"

"I thought so," said the genie in the same bored tone.

"No, wait," the man said, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "Power. Yeah,
that's it. Complete and total power over everyone and everything
in the world. With power I could get all the money I wanted."

"So you want power, huh?" asked the genie.

"Well, yes," said the man, now a bit hesitant because of the genie's
less-than-enthusiastic tone. "Of course, with money I suppose I
could buy power. Which do you think I should ask for, Genie?"

"How about world peace or personal humility or an end to famine or
maybe an end to greed," suggested the genie, emphasizing the last
phrase. "Or perhaps the gift of discernment or knowledge or
spiritual enlightenment or even simple happiness."

"But with money or power I could buy or command all those," objected
the man.

"Yeah, sure," said the genie.

"Well, just give me power and I'll show you that I can have
everything else, too."

"You shall have what you ask," said the genie resignedly. "Whether
you shall have what you imagine you must learn for yourself, and you
will soon find out."

"Well, I certainly hope to have it all. Don't you ever hope, Genie?"

"Yes," said the genie. "I hope that someday my lamp will fall into
the hands of a wise man."

And so the man was given power over everything on earth, over every
government, every event, every activity of every soul. As a result,
his name was soon pronounced with hatred