The Christmas Genie by Dan Gutman & Dan Santat

The Christmas Genie by Dan Gutman & Dan Santat

Author:Dan Gutman & Dan Santat
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-03-24T16:00:00+00:00


WISH #9:

I WISH WE COULD HAVE PERMANENT PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

Sophia raised her hand and said she chose that wish because she has relatives in Egypt.

“Excellent!” Mrs. Walters said. “People in the Middle East have been at war with one another for decades. Centuries, even. I can’t imagine anyone would have an objection to that wish.”

“I’d rather have a big-screen TV,” David said.

“Me too,” said Logan and Christopher.

“Wake me up when you kids decide,” said Genie Bob, closing his eyes. “I’m gonna take a snooze.”

“Why limit peace to the Middle East?” asked Elizabeth. “Why not go all the way and wish there were never any more wars? Between anybody.”

“Amen,” said Mrs. Walters, and a few kids chimed in with amens of their own.

“Fine with me,” Sophia said.

“What if we got attacked?” Christopher said, “like on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Are you saying we shouldn’t fight back? We should just do nothing?”

“If we wished for permanent world peace, our country wouldn’t be attacked,” said Ella.

“Good point,” Mrs. Walters said. “It would be great if there were no wars. And I like the fact that Sophia chose a wish that doesn’t involve money, candy, or one of us getting something personally. That’s very mature.”

“You could argue that wishing for world peace does involve money,” said Mia.

“How so?” asked Mrs. Walters.

“Well, if there was never any war,” Mia said, “a lot of grown-ups would lose their jobs.”

“Like who?” asked Hannah.

“Like anybody who works for a company that makes fighter planes,” said Mia. “Or a company that makes military uniforms, equipment, guns, ammunition, body armor, weapons, tanks, ships, boots, and all that other stuff the military needs. Those companies wouldn’t be in business if there were no wars.”

Huh! I never thought of that. There must actually be a lot of people who are happy when a war breaks out.

“My uncle is in the Marines,” said Isabella. “If there were never any wars, would he be fired?”

“You can’t be fired from the Marines,” Ava said.

“But if there were no wars, we wouldn’t need Marines anymore,” Hannah pointed out. “Or Army, or Navy, or Air Force. We wouldn’t need a military at all.”

“Do you know that our country spends more than five hundred billion dollars every year for defense?” Elizabeth said. “That’s more than the next thirty countries combined! Can you imagine what we could do with that money if we used it for education, health care, to clean up the environment, fix our roads and bridges, feed the hungry, house the homeless—”

“Oh, please,” Logan said. “Time to save the world again!”

“You can wish for world peace all you want,” said Ethan. “But there will always be dictators and crazy lunatics who want to kill us. That’s just human nature. There have always been wars, and there always will be. The world is a dangerous place. That’s why we have to spend so much money on defense.”

“War is not human nature,” Hannah said. “It’s the nature of man. If women ran the world, it would be a different story.



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