[matthew]

At the Museum of Modern Art (New York), there's a tree where people are invited to write down their wish…

[Toad]

There's something poignant about wishes in general - wishing wells, wish books, wishing trees. Possibly wishes are a form of visualization - and that by visualizing wishes, we can maybe make them real.

The writer wishes that someone though (s)he was special. God - haven't we all felt that?

[Irma]

Great Picture!!!

It made me think a lot about self esteem, the need of supporting people around you, fear of show how special you are....

I wish the one that wrote this wish finds that someone in him/herself.

[NT73]

An interesting choice of subject Matthew.

I wish someone thought I was special. 'Were' is plural if I am not mistaken. Education is the answer.

I spent a while reading cards on a christmas tree in a stately home earlier this year, and also in China at a monastery. (The ones in english that is.)

[Irma]

The rule says you can say I wish I were or He treated me as if I were.... so to my understanding were is not always plural.

Now, the thing here is "someone thought" that comes in the middle. I think it is ok anyway, because someone thought belongs to the first part of the sentence. I am not so sure, but I think this is the subjunctive form?

Hallo Zig!!! ...

[Zig]

Wahay!
Top marks Irma.
In English, the forms of both the present subjunctive and the conditional tenses are quite similar and easily confused even for native speakers. Interestingly enough, there exists in English dialect across the UK, echoes of the old kingdoms and demarcation zones of immigrant peoples who spoke slightly different Germanic tongues. East Midland dialect became the standard form of English, roughly equating with Mercia, whereas north of the rivers Trent and Humber existed many more words from Danish, Icelandic and Old Norse. Verb inflections and case endings varied somewhat, and many differences still remain in regional speech. Many a northern Englishperson will say, "I were going along the road," instead of the now-standard "was": both are uses of the same tense: past imperfect...it's just that long ago a Saxon(for example) had a completely different word than a Dane.
Another one: in Anglo-Saxon, a word to describe the anticipation of a future event, was "hwintil"; the Norse(I think) version, though similar, was still different: "hwil". Even today, in standard English, a southerner will say, " I won't see you until Thursday", whereas a northerner who comes from the old Viking Danegeld of the 9th/10 century(certainly around where NT lives), will say, " I won't see you while Thursday."
Anyway.
I feel Matthew's image to be even more poignant given its language code: broken English suggesting a broken soul, perhaps.

[matthew]

Walking through the gallery, a week into my visit to New York, I was pretty busy thinking my own thoughts. Being amazed at some of the artwork, annoyed by a lack of signage, thinking about what was past and what's next - I was pretty self-contained. Seeing this was like getting hit by a giant "reset" button.

If it's hard for me to read, what must it be like to write it?

… part of its appeal to me is that this is someone who has written the way they speak. Break the lines a little differently and it's a poem, or perhaps it's best just the way it is.

thanks, Zig - you're a treasure as always.

[Irma]

Thanks Zig for your explanation. Always fascinating to learn something you don't easily read in text books. They just give you the rule that you need to learn in order to pass the exam. But at the end they don't train you to speak and understand native English people.

[NT73]

I was thinking of the similarities. Wishing trees in different cultures.

[Irma]

So colorful picture NT. Beautiful indeed to see wishing trees in other countries. I don't think we have wishing trees in Mexico, and I haven't seen any in Germany...

Thanks for sharing your picture NT...

[nia]

It was a nice shot dear Matthew, Wishing Tree, we have too in our culture!

Thank you,
with my love,
nia

[Photopro]

Yoko Ono has had several art installations where people were invited to fasten their wishes to trees. I have a real soft spot for interactive art such as this.....unlike photography, it can never reflect a concrete image as the work itself is collaborative in nature and changes with the make up of the participants. This tree looked different before this wish was attached and looked different probably not 5 minutes later as more wishes were added. Catching it at this moment, with this sentiment highlighted is wonderful and thought provoking.
Lori