The nice old man from across the road was telling people about his request.
He was dead serious about it! He explained that sometime in late December last year he’d put in an application for a radical upgrade for this, the new year. He had made his appeal directly to the big enchilada, as he called him, the guy he said that runs everything. Apparently, he has been in touch with him for quite some time, but only back then did he feel compelled to forward his one-and-only personal petition. He kept it simple by asking only that all wars that were currently occurring in countries around the world no longer exist in the following year. He made it clear that people could carry on being really nasty to one another and that personal fights between individuals could continue, if people thought that it was really necessary; even murder would be accepted… but not wars.
Those who listened to his brief description of how he had entreated the big honcho with regards his proposal had, in the main, regarded the idea as perfectly reasonable, despite them considering its success to be unlikely.
This new year has proved them right.