but perhaps they are collected simply because they are collectible?  I'm not sure.

   For the longest time, I was obsessed with collecting things. anything. ticket stubs, receipts, movie passes and of course, fortunes. I was obsessed with the fear of forgetting of who I was and so I'd collect and make notes for myself in case I ever got amnesia and walked as a man without a past, and really, as a man without much hope for the future. maybe these fortunes were meant to serve as beacons for what I was to hope for, but I digress, and really . . . that was a long time ago.

    I never cared much for the messages that offered good advice. instead, I always preferred the true ‘fortunes’ (as most do,I'm sure); the ones that seemed to offer a glimmer of hope into the future always seemed to fascinate me.  Indeed, they could brighten my day or give me peace knowing that someday, someone will recognize my talents as an artist, or that someday, I will get that amazing raise, or that even I may find

love just around the corner.

    In fact, back when I was much more superstitious in high school, I got a fortune that told me that I was going to marry my girlfriend at the time and be happy. Amazingly, hers said that she was my ‘guiding light’; and while we never got married . . . it certainly got us both thinking that sometimes messages shouldn't always be taken at face value.

    Now, even as I write this, and knowing that I still have my fortune from last night's chinese dinner, I think it's not only fun, but even soothing to put some hope in some random, mass-produced message that happens to come in a little cookie. maybe these passing hopes are all that one can do in this modern age of fleeting faith, just as those who put faith in their horoscope and any variety of ‘truth-telling,’ ‘peace-offering’ answers to their universe. Regardless of what the word ‘faith’ has come to mean in recent years, I believe that everyone

should have hope for a greater tomorrow . . . a faith in something greater than ourselves. perhaps fortune cookies can offer just that, if

looked at in the right light.”