Certainly everyone has heard about the magical experience of wishing upon a star, right? As an elementary school teacher I get asked the widest variety of questions, and recently the topic of wishing on a shooting star came up in the middle of our science hour. I set aside dread and plunged in to answer the questions the best I could.

I loved watching the faces of my students light up when they learned that all you had to do is see a shooting star falling in the sky to make a wish. About half of my third graders said that they had seen a shooting star before and a good number of the kids didn't even know what a shooting star was. Our conversation was one of the most pleasant that we have had in a while.

After class that day I began thinking upon wishing upon a shooting star. I thought about how much of the wonder and magic of childhood I had lost in my adult years and I began wondering if other adults felt the same way. Not that a star has any true power to make wishes come true, but I wonder how many of us truly believe that good things are still happening and that miracles do exist.

I have been pondering these ideas for a few weeks now and I have been asking almost anyone I sit down with for conversation. I have concluded that in general, adults have lost the belief that good things are still happening to ordinary people. Most adults say that they cannot remember the last time they sat under the stars and made a wish let alone the last time they took time just to gaze upon a star for fun. I have become sad from the findings of my little research project.

I have begun encouraging all of the adults in my life to take time to wonder and dream and wish again. I've been encouraging them to get outside on a clear night and spend some time just waiting to wish upon a shooting star. I think our lives and our world would be better if we really believed that miracles were something real and not just something in storybooks.

So take a little time and wish your best wish upon a shooting star the next time you see one. Your wish might just come true and the world might just become a better place.