Wish is a desire or hope for something to happen. We all have wishes of where we want to be or what we what to become or what we would like to possess. It is even commonly said in prayers. For example "may God grant your heart desires or wishes". But just like thoughts or speech some wishes are irrational.
"Midas touch" is an English idiomatic expression. When someone is said to have a midas touch, it means that such a person has a good fortune or the ability to gain success or wealth from his or her actions and work.
Let me share an example of how midas touch can used in a sentence.
"Tom Cruise has a midas touch when it comes to producing blockbuster movies"
Just like every idiom in English language there is a story or origin behind it. The phrase midas touch originated from a Greek mythology story about a King named Midas.
Since the tale of King Midas is quite popular and a public story; some of my readers might have come across or heard the tale. I would only be sharing my version of it to avoid plagiarising any written work on the story.
Midas was a rich but an avaricious (avaricious means to be extremely greedy to accumulate wealth or riches) King who ruled over the country of Phrygia.
Midas came across a god who decided to bless him for his act of kindness towards one of his (the god's) servant. The god requested Midas to make a wish and he would grant it unto him.
Midas thought for a while, and replied that,
"I wish for anything I touch to turn into gold"
Midas thought was as a result of him wishing to acquire more wealth and at that time gold was the supreme symbol of wealth.
The god requested Midas to have a rethought of his wish. But Midas was bent on his wish. The god granted his wish and told him that the next day his wish will materialize.
The next King Midas woke up with so much keenness to try out whether his wish had been granted. He stretched his hand to touch a stool beside his bed.
Voila! The stool turned to pure gold. Immense euphoria began swelling in the mind of the King, as he touched a table, the door and mat and all turned into gold.
"Wow" I'm now the richest king and man in world", King Midas exclaimed.
He went out of his chambers to dinning room, different varieties of food and fruits were set on his table. He stretched forth his hands to take an apple. And to his surprise the apple turned to gold.
"What!" As he slowly the began to realize how ill his ability was. He tried touching other foods and they all turned into gold,
"I can't eat gold", Midas cried
While contemplating his dilemma his daughter (his only child and the person he cared for the most in the world) walked in, Midas went to welcome her with a hug and unexpectedly his daughter turned into a golden statue.
At that point he went down on his knees, tears in his eyes and begging the gods for the ability to be taken off him.
Sometimes just like King Midas, we do wish for things, be it a possession, position, power or ability.
But we are often lost in the thought of how beneficial our wishes may seem to be, without imagining or thinking about its negative effect or the problems that comes along with it.
I remembered a time I wished to become the representative of my department. It is a position of honour and I thought of how cool it was to be the class rep.
Little did I know that it came with a lot of stress and sacrifice of one's time. With little or no reward for one's effort.
I began to feel the brunt of the work and just like King Midas I realized how foolish my thoughts were since I couldn't cope with the pressure I decided to drop the position.
Thank you for reading. Special thanks to @MichaelBCH for the huge sponsorship.
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I learnt a new word from you Mike, didactic.
Wishes may leads us to stay determine on our goals and work to achieve them. Wishes might be curse by effecting mental stability in case of unfulfilled
I read Midas' tory in this novel that compiles different stories "Alli baba and the thieves". This article has prompted me to search for the book and also search for this popular line "Achille's heels" i want to know the story behind it.
Na you no get strength. You don't know that being the class rep gets you all the fine babes 😏
Midas greediness made him wish such, he didn't know that it would later hurt him. Not all things are to be wished, some can become bones that might block our throats.
When making wishes we should be careful of greed and we should try to be rational.
This is an intriguing read; everything in life has a positive and negative effect, and we should never focus on the positive side without considering the negative.
That's the mistake people often make; by focusing only on the positive
wow thanks. very instructive
What we wish should be from our mind because when we wishes can come in different forms.
Couldn't King Midas have worn gloves? 👀
Haha, it might not prevent anything he touches from turning into gold.
Anything looks glittering from far away may has high nodes. We can realise the reality only when we jump in the middle.
From afar everything looks good until we are there and experiencing it ourselves
Hmm... That was quite the tale. So much to be learnt from this, good sir. A lesson on:
wow, very interesting. I did not know that
To wish for to touch all things turn to gold is not really good. Well, the lesson here is that we have to love and accept what we resources we have.
Yes we should, and be careful of what we wish for
Although I have wishes, I always pray to Gos to give me what's good for me. What you wish for may not be the best for you. Things appear alluring from a distance you know..
Yes only God knows the best things for us.
provided it is not inordinate, there is probably no problem. At least let them be reasonable.
It's a good thing to wish, provided it is not inordinate. At least let them be reasonable.
Learnt a new word from you; inordinate, We should strive to be reasonable with our thoughts and wishes
King Midas was actually very naive and failed to think his wish through before requesting, probably that's the case with we humans today, we are always irrational in taking a lot of decisions and wishes. This is quite didactic I must say