I wish I was a Palestinian child, and my Israeli neighbour on the other side of the wall could hear me crying.

I wish I was a Jewish child proud to have parents who helped some Palestinian people into getting food and education.

I wish the musician who composed the Russian national anthem, could have made the politicians also sensitive to the people’s needs and to the real meaning of communism.

I wish the values which were fundamental in the past could have survived in today’s single-financial value.

I wish the Middle East would remember that some 5,600 years ago the region was famous for its wisdom and not for its cars and skyscrapers.

I wish that we could save the people from Ukraine with the same urgency as our own citizens.

I wish that the United Nations would force all the countries with nuclear power to dismantle their armament and relieve the world from the veto power of the very few.

I wish we would learn from plants, animals, seasons, nature and live in harmony with each other.

I wish I could design buildings in which happiness could be the name of the central room.

I wish that we could realise how much waste we produce in one part of our world, while the other part has only our waste to survive on.

I wish I could tell to all those I cross every day, how much I care for them, before it becomes too late.

I wish other people’s wishes were my priority.

I wish we knew that happiness is millimetres away from us and easily reachable, if only we open our hearts, arms, ears and souls.

I wish we could realise that all of the wishes can become reality if we firmly believe that this is what humanity needs and fight for its accomplishment.

Saleh Miri