I was 8 or 9 years old. Somebody asked me “ If you had a magical match and if by lighting it you could make one wish come true, what would you wish?”. I remember myself searching an answer to this question for days. Looking around me, examining the events around me, I tried to determine needs and I tried to fit all these into one single wish. Human beings’ and animals’ dieases, wars I saw on TV, starvation, aggressiveness, hatred, alcholism (which was a constant problem in Russia) and many others were among the things I saw and wanted to change... I wanted to combine all these together and world to recover from all these in one wish. However, each was a major problem and they never fit in one wish. Other than these global wishes, I also had two personal wishes. One was getting a dog and the other was my granmother to live long. So, my these two wishes would never fall in any category.

After thinking about this for weeks, I finally found an amazing answer. While I lighted my match, I would wish for a box full of magical matches! I was so happy about my decision as if I had had a magical match in my hands!.. Because, if I had a matchbox, I would light my matches by one by wiping all the problems out, and then what would I do when only ona last match left?... Of course I would ask for another matchbox! And by doing as I did before, I would solve all the problems in world and even in universe. I still remember the joy of this thought!...

I do not have a magic match... Neither do you... But there is a sentece I love: “If we want to change the world, we should change ourselves.” I believe this sincerly. Whatever we like to change or we do not like, they are all at the same time things we cannot solve or forgive inside us. Therefore, as long as the world outside mirrors ourselves, we should look inside and sculp ourselves under the guidence of our hearts. That is what I am trying to do.

I wish you all a happy new year...

Composer and Pianist
Anjelika Akbar