The Magic Lamp

Debris filled the landscape as far as the eye could see. The smell of death filled his nose. It was September 3, 2005 and Hurricane Katrina had dealt its horrible blow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He was there helping with Search and Recovery. So far, it was more recovery than search.

He pulled up the boards off an empty space and cringed as he peeked under the them. As best as he could tell,  this used to be a house. There weren’t too many landmarks left in this part of Hancock County.  The surge had blasted in over 30 feet, leaving debris in the trees. “OK, Mother Nature, you have my respect now,” he thought.

As he lifted the second board, he noticed a battered, brass lamp.  While he wasn’t there to treasure hunt, something about the old relic intrigued him.  He picked it up. “It’s a genie,” he laughed to himself.  Little did he know, he was right.

What Hurricane Camille had taken, Hurricane Katrina had given back. This lamp, brought back from Saudi Arabia in 1967 by an Air Force Airman at Keesler Airbase had been swept out to sea in the storm surge of the worst hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in history.  Worst until Katrina roared ashore a few days ago.  The man rubbed the lamp and laughed.

He stopped laughing when a giant man appeared before his very eyes.

“I will give you three wishes!” the Genie bellowed.

“Who are you?” the man asked in a meek and extremely shocked voice.

“I am the Genie of opportunity.”

“What?!?” The man was very doubtful.

“I grant wishes but not like most genies. I grant you opportunities to make your wishes to come true.”

The man looked at the lamp and thought, “Of all the genies, I have to get this nutjob.”

“What’s a nutjob?” asked the Genie inquisatively.

“Never mind,” the man said.  “I wish for all this to be cleaned up.”

“Your wish is my command.”

Nothing happened.

The man scoffed, “Some genie you are.”

Suddenly more people showed up in a van.  A worker came over to the man and said, “We’re here to help. Let’s get this lot cleaned off by dinnertime.”

And they did.

The man was sitting there as the sun set off toward New Orleans, eating his MRE and holding the lamp between his knees.  He rubbed the lamp a second time. “I ask for patience.”

“Your wish is my command” bellowed the genie.

The man found himself back home with his twins screaming and the phone ringing. A pot was boiling over on the stove.  “OK, I get it.  I am to LEARN patience not just be given to me as a gift.”

And once he changed his attitude about his situation, his life was changed forever.

He then rubbed the lamp one more time.

“I wish for great wealth.”

“Your wish is my command.”

The man suddenly was sitting in his bosses’ office holding a pink slip. “AW C’MON!” the man screamed. “How will getting laid-off in the middle Great Recession make me rich?”

The Genie smiled and went back into the bottle.  The man sat there for a minute and realized he needed to get moving. By not being tied down to job, the man was able to try a few new things.  A few new things led to more new things.  Each new opportunity opened new and exciting doors. He was outside of his comfort zone and discovered it was a great place to hangout. He got busy. He HAD to get busy.  He needed to keep his house.

Ten years later, the man sat at his desk in the office building in Jackson. He looked up at the shelf at a battered old lamp. “Thank you, Genie.  Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood.”

The man smiled.  He took the lamp off the shelf one more time and the Genie came out.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank yourself. I just gave you circumstances in which you could learn and achieve what you asked for.  That’s what I do.  You’re the one who deserves all the credit. You did the work.”

The now-rich man smiled and set the lamp back on the shelf.  His work here was done.