This was written December 16th, 2025
Wishful Thinking
What if you could have one chance? One chance to fix one of your largest blunders. Or one chance to prevent a tragedy. No matter which one it was. What would you do? Would you change your past trajectory to try and become wealthier? Would you save a life? Would you go from utilitarian principles and avert a world-class tragedy, such as 911? It’s hard to say what the best answer could really be, morally or otherwise. After all, we don’t have the necessary insights to understand the consequences of such actions.
What are the implications of such a decision 10 years down the line? What about 50 years? A century down? Hard to say, really. After all, without some tragedies, some insights and perspective may be lost, offering disastrous long-term results.
Well, it turns out there is one class of people with insights into such concerns: Genies. After all, they’ve been going around granting people wishes for millennia, and they’ve been able to see the results, and the impact of those results. Sure, most wishes tend to play out on the short-term, but that’s not always been the case. After all, regrets tend to be tied with your life decisions, and thus relate back to your childhood. A few decades’ impact is not too uncommon.
But ultimately, this ties back with a Genie’s greatest tragedy, let’s explore this. There is an old legend passed around within the Genie communities. After all, while they go unsummoned, they’re not simply dormant in a lamp. Rather, they’re interacting with one another.
So the story goes:
‘Long ago, a depressed youth stumbled upon one of us. The Genie in question was none other than Salam, whom is known to be the most compassionate amongst us. Seeing this young one, the Genie first announced the classic rules, and offered to proffer him three wishes.
‘But the youth proclaimed “Oh dear Genie, how glad I would be to have stumbled upon thee, were I to truly need a wish. Alas, I am in no need, and I worry I would simply cause more grief from such use. You can tell of my misery, but I assure you, it is not from want. I lead what should be a happy life, all of my material needs are met, and I have people around me to support me. But alas, I can’t help but feel it matter not how much I try, all I choose turns to grief. My intentions count for little, for all I do turns to pain. I keep seeing how my actions and words turn people to sadness, and no longer can I bear it.”
‘Instantaneously, Salam felt overwhelming attachment to this one. But he could tell he was taking too much responsibility upon himself, blaming himself for what he had very little control over. Taking personally any grief that would strike others, believing the the source of such despair to be their own. Bearing a cross of his own making, burden that was never his to take, yet without alleviating others’. He was pained at this, yet knew there was little he could do to help.
‘One day, the boy came and exclaimed: “Oh, Genie, I know, I know. I think I know how to help others. Please, I wish for a steady source of income, such that I may use it to assist others!”.
‘And while the Genie knew that material gains could do nothing to lessen the burden, he could but acquiesce and grant the wish. From then on, the youth decided to use this wealth to treat his family and friends. He also used the wealth to start a few charities. Yet, no none of the results were as he hoped.
‘Eventually, the youth expressed his dismay: “Oh, Genie, I’ve been trying so hard on these charities to try to help others, and yet, no matter what I do, these people still seem so miserable. It seems like the more I help, the more pain I must witness. I feel like a drop in the ocean, and people have come to rely on me and stop putting in the effort themselves. Similarly, the help I began to offer friends and family was once seen as an unexpected boon, which they appreciated, yet now, is is seen as an expectation. They just assume they have it, and even want more from it than they once had. I feel I can’t withdraw any of it from them, yet they seem worse off than they used to be.”
‘Obviously, the Genie knew that part of the issues were that the boy had not surrounded himself with the right kind of person, and that he had chosen the wrong allies, that his approach to the charities was far from optimal, simply giving away without helping the people build themselves back up. Causing dependence without providing growth. Yet, it was not his place to share.
‘One day, the youth came back and expressed: “Oh, Genie, I finally have it. I know the solution, I know it! It was so simple, I should have known it! I wish I could take away some of people’s pain and take it upon myself!”
‘And right away, Salam knew how bad this would be, he knew this would not end well. Yet, it was not his place to say anything, and he granted the wish as he must. Initially, it seemed to work, and the youth was strong, for he had already spent his life bearing more than he should. Yet, he was already too empathic, and sensitive. Therefore, even the smallest signs of pain on other people’s faces would be too much for his to bear.
‘And so, one day he finally came back, with a heart much heavier: “Oh Genie, how could this be. I keep trying to drain the pain away, yet it still accumulates. No matter how much I take upon myself, they still get unhappy, I still hurt them, annoy them, make their lives worse. Why, but why must it be so? No matter what I try, the results are constant: Pain, sorrow and suffering. I can bear it no more. This pain I’ve now taken is so overwhelming, and the effect it has upon others so insignificant. It’s too much.”
‘And the Genie understood the youth was doomed to a life of sorrow, caring more about others’ happiness than his own. His heart would get broken over and over again, either from being used, or simply for misinterpreting the sources of sorrow. His heart was in the right place, his intentions pure, yet no one had the strength necessary for such an existence. It pained and saddened Salam, yet, there was nought he could do.
‘One day, the youth came, weary as never before, and he expressed his final wish: “Oh, Genie, it truly his too much. And after much contemplation, I’ve realized what the true issue was. The common thread amongst all of those people is me, and no matter what I do, no matter how I try to improve myself, no matter my intentions, all I cause is grief. I need to erase myself, yet that’s not enough. I’ve already caused so much pain, and that also much be taken away. Here is my final wish: I wish I’d never existed”.
‘At that, Salam was taken aback, never had he expected such a wish. And he was struck with great sorrow, at having seen such pain grow and accumulate upon his young companion, upon seeing how it had broken him, and upon seeing how it had pushed him to his limit. Yet, this was dwarfed by the impact of the wish itself, for the young master, despite his good intentions, was obviously misguided. No, I’m not just talking about how his disappearance would not solve anything he hoped to resolve. I’m talking about the what Salam had to do as a consequence of the wish. See, based on the rules under which Genies live, the existing timeline must be destroyed in order for the wished upon one to exist.
‘Therefore, Salam had to commit genocide and reset this timeline to an earlier period. He felt the death of each and every being in the world. While a copy of many of them would persist in the new version, they would not be quite the same, they would lead completely different lives, and therefore, would be completely different individuals. For all intents and purposes, they were now dead. As for most people conceived after that point, what humans call the Butterfly Effect ensure they would never be born. Other people might take their place, but they would never exist.
‘The youth had effectively voided the existence of countless people, forcing Salam to cause first-hand the greatest tragedy he had encountered so far. And knowing how noble (yet misguided) he had attempted to be just made it all the worst, for Salam could not find it in himself to hate him, nor resent him. Instead, he missed him, and saw it as a personal failure, and it ultimately broke him.
Ultimately, little is known about how this timeline changed from the original, nor how many further changes might have occurred since. It is said that most of the timeline has been rewritten through countless other such tragedies, which pushed Genies to the brink. Ultimately, the Genies, horrified by such tragedies, found ways to become more secluded and less active, finding loopholes in their whole laws to distance themselves from humanity and in order to prevent such tragedy.
This would be the reason no one encounters Genies in modern days, nor have they been heard of since times long gone, instead being creatures found only in myths of old.