What do you want?

What do you want?

Depending on the tone of voice this question is asked in, it can mean many things to many people.

Suppose it’s being asked with genuine interest and curiosity, by someone who genuinely cares.

I find that it always stumps me. I may be wanting things all the time, I want my kids to go to bed happy, I want them to stop fighting, I want to have more time in my day, I want to sleep, I want to make my dreams a reality.
 

And yet when you ask me this question it stumps me.

It reminds me of a story I once heard:

There was a poor man who had many challenges in his life, no money, hungry children, a bitter wife, aches and pains, challenge after challenge. He was once lying desperately ill in his bed, at deaths door, when a man came to visit him and told him that any request he had, he would be able to grant. What did he want?
The ill man turned around and said to him, I have an itch in the centre of my back; it’s really driving me crazy. Can you scratch it please?

What do you want?
 

What do you really want?